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Read these first installments of the ongoing 30-part devotional series Feed on His Faithfulness, based on Psalms 37, right here on Strike the Jordan!
Friday, July 4, 2025
Feed on His Faithfulness
GRANDMASTERING THE SCHOLAR'S MATE - "Feed on His Faithfulness" Devotional #7
"Do not fret... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass."
– Psalms 37:1-7 (NKJV, excerpts)
– Psalms 37:1-7 (NKJV, excerpts)
[Reporter:] "Surya, how was 'World Rapid and Blitz' for you?"
"Thank you for this question. What's your next question, please?" [Laughter] "Yeah, oh ... this was disaster! Well, that happens. Yeah, it happens. It happens."
—From interview with chess grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly after his embarrassing defeat to a "Scholar's Mate"
* * *
Today's devotional topic from Psalm 37 follows directly on our last segment, "Show Me the Dome!" based on verse 6, where I tend to stress about "platform." About, "I'm trying to be a voice for God, but nobody's listening!"
Moving to verse 7, the psalmist delves into our deeper anxieties: seeing others—even evildoers—seemingly prosper in all they set their hand to while we're just "spinning our wheels." Maybe that's you. Maybe there's an unfulfilled prophecy or calling on your life, and you have that recurring nightmare—the one where you're standing before the Great White Throne judgment seat, and God's demanding to know why you failed to make it all happen!
But take heart, because that's not Who our God is! As we're about to find out, our loving Heavenly Father reveals His purposes for you—a prophecy, be it literal or figurative—not so you can sally forth and make it happen, but rather so you'll yield your neck into His yoke and watch how He makes it happen His way. In His perfect timing.
I recall a pastor who hung a sign in the church's meeting hall with just one word: "BOFFOGONY." It was a word he had coined to mean: "Bunch of fools, fooling ourselves, going nowhere." In his sermon that week, he chided the congregation for deceiving themselves into believing they were serving God's purposes, when they hadn't any results to show for the many prophecies that God had spoken over their lives.
Sure, we can all feel that way at times, and the more we think on it, the more we panic. "I'm almost out of runway. Getting too old. God gave me a vision years ago that I would achieve some great thing, but here I still am at Square One with nothing to show for it."
And yet ... quite possibly our Lord is at work through the principle of "Scholar's Mate."
At the World Rapid and Blitz 2023 Championship in Uzbekistan, chess grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly lost to his opponent, who employed a Scholar's Mate. Considered a rookie strategy, the Scholar's Mate seeks to ambush the opponent and effect checkmate using a piece that has not moved at all during the game.
Think about it. The piece that checkmated Grandmaster Ganguly had not moved from its original square on the board. It was probably wondering whether it would ever "get off the bench" and start fulfilling its prophecy to "do stuff" in the game. But it simply had to wait. No worries, no stress. Trust its master and stay where he had positioned it. And it was the piece that ultimately brought down the enemy!
Many heroes of the faith have wrestled with the same fear as you and I do: the fear of "missing God."
Moses, whose very name was synonymous with "Exodus," decided he should take matters into his own hands. Scripture tells us that he thought his people would "realize that God was using him to rescue them" (Acts 7:24-25). Rescue them!? By killing one Egyptian at a time? Yeah, right. Not exactly a stellar strategy, Moses! And he found out the hard way, that running ahead of God has its consequences: in this case, exile. True, the prophecy over his life was ultimately fulfilled eighty years after he was born and given that prophetic name. But only when he did it God's way. In God's perfect timing.
How about Father Abraham? When he was 75 years old (still "Abram"), God called him and promised to make of him a great nation. But ten years rolled by, and he was still sitting at Square One—with not a single child to his name. Which is when his loving wife came up with the Hagar idea, remember?
Yeah ... it just took Abram one glance at the younger model, and ... "Woo-hoo! Yea and amen, darling! Adonai hath spoken!!"
Consequences again. <Sigh> But God was faithful, and He had the last laugh, in His perfect time. Because at the ages of 100 and 90, respectively—exactly twenty-five years after the promise was given—Abraham and Sarah became proud parents of the true child of promise, whom they named Isaac ("laughter").
But Jacob surely takes the gold medal for personal prophecies that sat unfulfilled at Square One for a very long time. When he spent the night at Bethel (Genesis 28:13, the Jacob's Ladder incident), God made him a personal promise: "I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying." Which promise was fulfilled approximately 450 years later when the Israelites, under Joshua, conquered the Promised Land.
And what part did Jacob himself play in all this? Sure, his boys took him on a wagon ride down to Egypt, where he spent a few years before his passing away. But then, notice: God had him very ceremoniously moved back to the Promised Land (Square One), where they laid him in a grave to await the return of his descendants from their four-and-a-half centuries' slavery in Egypt and wilderness sojourn.
See what's going on here? Jacob had zero to do, for God's purposes to be fulfilled. He just had to lie on Square One ...all by himself ... within the Still-Just-a-Promised Land of which God had said, "I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying." And as if drawn by a cosmic magnet, the Children of Israel had no choice but to return to that land and take possession. It was "Scholar's Mate" on all the devil's schemes. God's magnificent promise fulfilled at last, even as Father Jacob (the one who had received the promise) lay quite dead, waiting patiently at "Square One!"
According to II Timothy 1:9, "[He] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." Which means He laid a path for us thousands of years ago—planned "a hope and a future" for us (Jeremiah 29:11). He will accomplish and fulfill this holy calling—He will make something meaningful of our lives—if we'll just yield to His yoke. And yes, He'll make it all happen even if we haven't moved a single square on the board, in our own estimation, from where we started out.
"Thank you for this question. What's your next question, please?" [Laughter] "Yeah, oh ... this was disaster! Well, that happens. Yeah, it happens. It happens."
—From interview with chess grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly after his embarrassing defeat to a "Scholar's Mate"
* * *
Today's devotional topic from Psalm 37 follows directly on our last segment, "Show Me the Dome!" based on verse 6, where I tend to stress about "platform." About, "I'm trying to be a voice for God, but nobody's listening!"
Moving to verse 7, the psalmist delves into our deeper anxieties: seeing others—even evildoers—seemingly prosper in all they set their hand to while we're just "spinning our wheels." Maybe that's you. Maybe there's an unfulfilled prophecy or calling on your life, and you have that recurring nightmare—the one where you're standing before the Great White Throne judgment seat, and God's demanding to know why you failed to make it all happen!
But take heart, because that's not Who our God is! As we're about to find out, our loving Heavenly Father reveals His purposes for you—a prophecy, be it literal or figurative—not so you can sally forth and make it happen, but rather so you'll yield your neck into His yoke and watch how He makes it happen His way. In His perfect timing.
I recall a pastor who hung a sign in the church's meeting hall with just one word: "BOFFOGONY." It was a word he had coined to mean: "Bunch of fools, fooling ourselves, going nowhere." In his sermon that week, he chided the congregation for deceiving themselves into believing they were serving God's purposes, when they hadn't any results to show for the many prophecies that God had spoken over their lives.
Sure, we can all feel that way at times, and the more we think on it, the more we panic. "I'm almost out of runway. Getting too old. God gave me a vision years ago that I would achieve some great thing, but here I still am at Square One with nothing to show for it."
And yet ... quite possibly our Lord is at work through the principle of "Scholar's Mate."
At the World Rapid and Blitz 2023 Championship in Uzbekistan, chess grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly lost to his opponent, who employed a Scholar's Mate. Considered a rookie strategy, the Scholar's Mate seeks to ambush the opponent and effect checkmate using a piece that has not moved at all during the game.
Think about it. The piece that checkmated Grandmaster Ganguly had not moved from its original square on the board. It was probably wondering whether it would ever "get off the bench" and start fulfilling its prophecy to "do stuff" in the game. But it simply had to wait. No worries, no stress. Trust its master and stay where he had positioned it. And it was the piece that ultimately brought down the enemy!
Many heroes of the faith have wrestled with the same fear as you and I do: the fear of "missing God."
Moses, whose very name was synonymous with "Exodus," decided he should take matters into his own hands. Scripture tells us that he thought his people would "realize that God was using him to rescue them" (Acts 7:24-25). Rescue them!? By killing one Egyptian at a time? Yeah, right. Not exactly a stellar strategy, Moses! And he found out the hard way, that running ahead of God has its consequences: in this case, exile. True, the prophecy over his life was ultimately fulfilled eighty years after he was born and given that prophetic name. But only when he did it God's way. In God's perfect timing.
How about Father Abraham? When he was 75 years old (still "Abram"), God called him and promised to make of him a great nation. But ten years rolled by, and he was still sitting at Square One—with not a single child to his name. Which is when his loving wife came up with the Hagar idea, remember?
Yeah ... it just took Abram one glance at the younger model, and ... "Woo-hoo! Yea and amen, darling! Adonai hath spoken!!"
Consequences again. <Sigh> But God was faithful, and He had the last laugh, in His perfect time. Because at the ages of 100 and 90, respectively—exactly twenty-five years after the promise was given—Abraham and Sarah became proud parents of the true child of promise, whom they named Isaac ("laughter").
But Jacob surely takes the gold medal for personal prophecies that sat unfulfilled at Square One for a very long time. When he spent the night at Bethel (Genesis 28:13, the Jacob's Ladder incident), God made him a personal promise: "I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying." Which promise was fulfilled approximately 450 years later when the Israelites, under Joshua, conquered the Promised Land.
And what part did Jacob himself play in all this? Sure, his boys took him on a wagon ride down to Egypt, where he spent a few years before his passing away. But then, notice: God had him very ceremoniously moved back to the Promised Land (Square One), where they laid him in a grave to await the return of his descendants from their four-and-a-half centuries' slavery in Egypt and wilderness sojourn.
See what's going on here? Jacob had zero to do, for God's purposes to be fulfilled. He just had to lie on Square One ...all by himself ... within the Still-Just-a-Promised Land of which God had said, "I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying." And as if drawn by a cosmic magnet, the Children of Israel had no choice but to return to that land and take possession. It was "Scholar's Mate" on all the devil's schemes. God's magnificent promise fulfilled at last, even as Father Jacob (the one who had received the promise) lay quite dead, waiting patiently at "Square One!"
According to II Timothy 1:9, "[He] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." Which means He laid a path for us thousands of years ago—planned "a hope and a future" for us (Jeremiah 29:11). He will accomplish and fulfill this holy calling—He will make something meaningful of our lives—if we'll just yield to His yoke. And yes, He'll make it all happen even if we haven't moved a single square on the board, in our own estimation, from where we started out.
You may ask, "Is all this to suggest that we give in to idleness in the fields of the Lord?" God forbid!... Lest the Master come on a day when we least expect Him, and He judge us as unfaithful servants. (Luke 12:46) But our Lord would have us understand that His true and faithful servants can accomplish nothing of eternal value—nada—except as we yield to His yoke and let His mighty power be at work through us.
In conclusion, unfulfilled prophecies should never be a source of panic as to how quickly we must make them happen. Remember that He is the "Capitol Dome" (revealed in Devotional #6) Who must shine in and through every dimension of our life. Forget the anxiety of "I'm just spinning my wheels!" and let the wheels rest. Maybe the Lord doesn't seem to be doing anything at all right now. Maybe you're still sitting at Square One of His prophecy and His calling. Relax! Rest in His yoke. Because both the outcome and the timing are His alone.
In conclusion, unfulfilled prophecies should never be a source of panic as to how quickly we must make them happen. Remember that He is the "Capitol Dome" (revealed in Devotional #6) Who must shine in and through every dimension of our life. Forget the anxiety of "I'm just spinning my wheels!" and let the wheels rest. Maybe the Lord doesn't seem to be doing anything at all right now. Maybe you're still sitting at Square One of His prophecy and His calling. Relax! Rest in His yoke. Because both the outcome and the timing are His alone.
Why not pray ...
"Dear Father,
So often I can't help feeling like I'm hanging out on Square One of Your great chessboard with nothing to show for MY years of diligent service to You ... while evildoers around me are seemingly prosperous at all they set their hand to! But I choose now to let it go—not just let the outcome go, but also the timing. I place my neck unreservedly within Your precious yoke, which is easy and light. Nothing is too difficult for You ... You're King of the Universe and Master of the Scholar's Mate! So, I release all stress and anxiety, and find in You true rest for my soul. Please accomplish in, and through, me the great victories that You alone can achieve when I let go and let God!
In Jesus' name. Amen."
---
Originally published as a “Bradstix” devotional on the National Minute of Prayer Facebook page 7/4/2025.
Copyright © Brad Fenichel 2025 All Rights Reserved
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