To Choose a Horse

Scripture References: Ezekiel 21:21; Philippians 4:19

As welders’ arcs showered sparks in the racetrack’s new $80 million grandstand, a middle-aged man walked down an aisle seeking a lucky seat. He had been hired by a public relations firm to show reporters what he felt would be the luckiest seats in the renovated house. He identified a pair of blue seats where he “felt” the presence of a charmed couple from Orange County.

In another area of the grandstand another psychic flipped tarot cards to determine the luckiest seats. A third psychic, a numerologist, selected the best seat for anyone whose birthday was May 22, 1955, concluding that the winning seats four and seven in section eleven offered propitious signs. Numerology, she affirmed, is a way of looking beneath the surface of events.

When you bet the ponies, you figure any help is better than pure guesswork, even if it means following the opinions of handicappers. But a tarot reader? A numerologist? Psychics? Are we that desperate to win, to succeed, to be secure? All of which would be sad enough if people resorted to such frauds only to bet the ponies. But 900 numbers keep humming with the plaintive requests of ordinary people seeking help in dating, marriage, and careers from these clever shamans. Why would we honor unscrupulous opportunists in preference to the living, all knowing God, who graciously invites our audience with him for any need we have?

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.