The game of darts has been around for years. According to history the game began when several soldiers were bored because there was no war and nothing to do that they began to throw small knives onto the bottom of a barrel. Their practice of throwing the knives to the barrel became a competition of which more and more people began to play this game in their homes. The center of the dart game is the bull’s eye and it is the highest point anyone can get, but it takes lots of practice to hit it. The game of darts has a symbolic meaning in our spiritual life, it is the practice of pin pointing the bad things in our lives and hitting them with the dart of the spirit; God’s word (Heb 4:12). There things in the game that help us to miss the mark, in the game board lines of wire are inserted to cause the dart to miss and drop to the floor. These wires within the game are in our spiritual lives known as lies from our enemy, the bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies (Jhn8:44). The game of darts can become frustrating, because unless one puts interest and really tries to hit high number to eventually hitting the bull’s eye they will give up and not play.
Psalms 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Missing the mark in the game of darts is like sin that for whatever reason when your dart hits the board it miss and falls on the floor. And, in order to unpack this message we will begin with the last verse of Psalms 1:3. Baring good fruit in God’s kingdom takes practice and will, and when this happens it prospers just as Jesus said regarding the seed sown by the sower (Mt12:23). One of the signs a fruit tree has is its leaves. Jesus had an encounter with a tree whose leaves gave the sign that it had fruits, and when he went to feed of it saw on the other wise; it was barren (Mk11:12-14). In the game of darts one has to set a goal as to where you want your dart to land; the closer to the bull’s eye as many times as possible to achieve high numbers, and such is with God’s word. We need to set goals to hit in our lives with the aid of God’s word, so daily it has to be a practice of reading and studying (Jhn5:39). When we stop reading and studying God’s word our aim is cut short, and our focus to be on target is deterred. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that we need to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
When we miss the mark is related to verse 1 of Psalm 1 “stand in the way of the sinner”. We need to define what is a sinner and what is to stand in the way there of. A sinner is defined as a person who voluntarily violates a divine law. So, to stand in the way means to persevere in that way of a sinner, but the psalmist tells us that blessed is that person that does not stand in that way. We must change our ways in order to become prosperous in God. God told his people by Ezekiel the prophet to turn from their evil ways lest they die (Ez33:11).