Three Angels Broadcasting Network Devotional.
Lessons From a Bow and Arrow.
By Bobby Davis
August 18th, 2026
“You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men.” Jeremiah 32:19
After growing up in South America, I felt pretty lost as a teenager, when my family returned to the United States. I spoke English, as I do now, but everything else was completely unfamiliar.
Since I didn’t understand American sports, I looked for something I could get involved with, and for some reason, I chose archery. Before long, I learned all the right techniques and follow-through, but the part I lacked in was experience. Practice does not make perfect, but it does make permanent—so I practiced a lot. I got better, and realized that every single shot had to be carefully executed in order to hit the target.
I learned many lessons from archery—persistence, the rewards of practice, and patience. But it was much later in life before I was able to see how really valuable those lessons were.
You see, I’m rather impatient at times—with other people, and with myself. I’m not sure why that is, since my parents are really models of patience that I should have learned from. I remember a time when the big family Christmas present was a garage door opener. How excited I was to unpack the pieces. I spread them all over the garage floor, and tried to follow the directions. However, it seems that it was manufactured in a foreign country, and the directions didn’t make sense. But there were pictures, so I began assembly without actually trying very hard to decipher the written directions. And that didn’t turn out well.
At times, my father would ask me, “Don’t you think you should do this or that first?” and I would impatiently tell him that I knew what I was doing. That man has the patience of a saint, because not only did he let me try to assemble it, but he also disassembled every piece when I gave up, and started over. Finally, it was done, and we put it up and tried it out. Believe it or not, over 40 years later, that garage door opener still works (although he did have to replace a fuse).
Sometimes I’m impatient with God. And that archery experience comes back again. Consider these wise words from one of my favorite authors, Oswald Chambers. “A saint's life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer,” he writes. “God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says – ‘I cannot stand any more.’
“God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly.”
Although I’m not much of an archer anymore, I know that if I’m an arrow in the hands of the Master Archer, He will never miss.
Three Angels Broadcasting Network Devotional.
Lessons From a Bow and Arrow.
By Bobby Davis
August 18th, 2026
“You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men.” Jeremiah 32:19
After growing up in South America, I felt pretty lost as a teenager, when my family returned to the United States. I spoke English, as I do now, but everything else was completely unfamiliar.
Since I didn’t understand American sports, I looked for something I could get involved with, and for some reason, I chose archery. Before long, I learned all the right techniques and follow-through, but the part I lacked in was experience. Practice does not make perfect, but it does make permanent—so I practiced a lot. I got better, and realized that every single shot had to be carefully executed in order to hit the target.
I learned many lessons from archery—persistence, the rewards of practice, and patience. But it was much later in life before I was able to see how really valuable those lessons were.
You see, I’m rather impatient at times—with other people, and with myself. I’m not sure why that is, since my parents are really models of patience that I should have learned from. I remember a time when the big family Christmas present was a garage door opener. How excited I was to unpack the pieces. I spread them all over the garage floor, and tried to follow the directions. However, it seems that it was manufactured in a foreign country, and the directions didn’t make sense. But there were pictures, so I began assembly without actually trying very hard to decipher the written directions. And that didn’t turn out well.
At times, my father would ask me, “Don’t you think you should do this or that first?” and I would impatiently tell him that I knew what I was doing. That man has the patience of a saint, because not only did he let me try to assemble it, but he also disassembled every piece when I gave up, and started over. Finally, it was done, and we put it up and tried it out. Believe it or not, over 40 years later, that garage door opener still works (although he did have to replace a fuse).
Sometimes I’m impatient with God. And that archery experience comes back again. Consider these wise words from one of my favorite authors, Oswald Chambers. “A saint's life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer,” he writes. “God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says – ‘I cannot stand any more.’
“God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly.”
Although I’m not much of an archer anymore, I know that if I’m an arrow in the hands of the Master Archer, He will never miss.
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