Follow Through

Psalm 61

I like golf.  I watch it from time-to-time.   I’m better than average (any golfer who breaks 100 regularly is better than average–and I regularly shoot in the low-to-mid 90’s), even though I only play once or twice a year.  If I had time to work on my game, I’d be better.  Alas, time and money keep me from playing more frequently.

Tiger Woods is a beast of a golfer, and he’s on a roll… again.  He hasn’t lost a tournament he’s entered in seven months.  He’s entered five tournaments this year and won all five of them.  Sports writers and sportscasters are talking crazy, saying he could win every tournament he enters this year (which is around 15).  The secret to his success is his work ethic, his workouts, and his swing–which is, by far, one of the most efficient and most beautiful to watch.

Although every aspect of a golfer’s swing (or a basketball player’s shot, or baseball player’s swing–choose your favorite sport) is important, one aspect that you never hear much about is the “follow through”–the part of the swing that happens after the player has made contact with the ball.  The follow through is extremely important because it can reveal flaws in the rest of the swing.  It can also reveal what kind of shot the player is hitting–the follow through is different if he’s playing a fade (for a right-handed player, a shot that he intentionally hooks left-to-right), a draw (a ball that he intentionally hooks right-to-left), or even a “stinger” shot (one that Tiger is famous for–an intentionally low, hard shot that has a lot of roll to it after it lands).  A player can have a decent swing all the way to the point of impact, but if the swing breaks down at the follow through, the chances are higher that he’s hit a poor shot… and that there’s something wrong with the rest of the swing.  Maybe that’s my problem…

Psalm 61 is another Psalm of David.  He refers to God as his refuge, and in the last half of this short psalm, David refers to himself in the third person as he writes about what God will do for the king.  David wraps up the psalm by writing this in Psalm 61:8,

So I will sing praise to Your name forever, that I may pay my vows day by day.

What in the world does this have to do with Tiger Woods and golf swings?  Everything…

A poor follow through in a golf swing reveals that something else is probably wrong with the swing.  In our lives, when we make a promise and fail to follow through with it, it reveals that there is something wrong with our character.  David writes that, in spite of the circumstance he finds himself in, he will follow through in fulfilling the vows he has made to God, and he’ll do it day by day.  There is no “when” with David; there is only “now.”

How many times have we made a promise to someone and failed to follow through–intentionally or accidentally?  Maybe it is with our kids–we promise to take them somewhere or do something with them, and when the time comes, we fail to follow through.  It devastates them.  Maybe it is with our friends–they invite us to go out or to come over, and we say yes… and then we back out at the last minute for no other reason that we just don’t feel like going (and we make up some excuse… we lie… to get out of going).  Some people are habitual with this–they say yes to everything, but never follow through.  When we fail to follow through with our “vows”, with our promises, it shows serious flaws in our character.

As often as we do this to other people, how often do we do this to God?

How many times do we say, “Whenever _________________ (fill in the blank with some “milestone”) happens, I’ll ________________ (fill in the blank with something you intend to do for God someday).”  Here’s the problem:  whenever never comes.  We make a “vow” to God, and we don’t carry through with it.  David said that he payed his vows to God “day by day.”  He did not wait for when.  There was only now.  For us to make promises to other people and to God, but have poor follow through, reveals a serious character flaw:  selfishness.  It reveals that we would rather be comfortable than take a risk.  It reveals that we would rather be lazy than exert effort for someone else’s betterment.

In golf, when you hit a bad shot that’s headed in someone else’s direction, you yell “Fore!” to warn them. 
If we habitually fail to follow through on our promises–to God and to others–eventually, people will start to duck every time we swing.