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William MacDonald
“He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.” (Psalm 147:10)
What an interesting insight! The great, transcendent God doesn’t take pleasure in the legs of a man!
We can think of this in connection with the world of athletics. The track star, lithe and swift, crossing the finish line with hands flung high in victory. The basketball player, streaking down the court to sink the winning basket. The football hero, muscular and strong, irresistibly plunging through the line.
The crowd goes wild. They are jumping, shouting, cheering (or alternately booing and catcalling). They are fanatics, emotionally involved in every play. You might say that they take pleasure in the legs of a man—that is, in his ability to play the game.
Our verse is not intended to prohibit an interest in athletics. The Bible elsewhere speaks well of the value of bodily exercise. But God’s disinterest in the legs of a man should remind us to keep our priorities in balance.
It is easy for a young believer to become so engrossed in some sport that it becomes the passion of his life. All his best efforts are aimed toward achieving excellence. He disciplines his time, his food intake, his sleep. He practices endlessly, perfecting skill in every conceivable play. He maintains an exercise regimen, designed to keep him in top physical condition. He thinks and talks about this sport as if it were his life. Perhaps it actually is.
Sometimes a young Christian like this is brought up short when he realizes that God doesn’t take pleasure in the legs of a man. If he wants to walk in fellowship with God, he must adopt God’s perspective.
What, then, does God take pleasure in? The eleventh verse of Psalm 147 tells us: “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.” In other words, God is more interested in the spiritual than in the physical. The Apostle Paul mirrors this same value system when he says that “bodily exercise profiteth (a) little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” (1 Tim. 4:8).
One hundred years from today, when the cheers have died away, when the stadium is empty, and the score is forgotten, the thing that will really count is a life that first sought the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
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Monday, August 03, 2009
Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time
William MacDonald
“…they feared as they entered into the cloud.” (Lu. 9:34)
Peter, James and John were on the mount with Jesus. Sensing that this was a significant moment in history and desiring to somehow preserve its glory, Peter proposed erecting three booths—one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. This, of course, would have put the Lord on the same level as the two Old Testament saints. God thwarted the project by enveloping them in a cloud. Luke tells us that “they feared as they entered into the cloud.”
They shouldn’t have feared. It was a cloud of glory, not of judgment. It was a temporary phenomenon, not a permanent fact of life. God was in the cloud, even though He was not visible.
Oftentimes clouds come into our lives and, like the apostles, we fear as we enter into one of these clouds. When God calls us to a new sphere of service, for instance, there is often the fear of the unknown. We imagine the worst in the way of dangers, discomforts and disagreeable situations. Actually we are just being afraid of a blessing. When the cloud lifts, we find that God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect.
We fear as we enter the cloud of sickness. Our minds run wild with alarm. We interpret every word and facial movement of the doctor as an omen of doom. We diagnose every symptom as pointing to a terminal disease. But when the illness passes, we find ourselves saying with the psalmist, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted” (Psa. 119:71). God was in the cloud and we did not know it.
We fear when we enter the cloud of sorrow. What good, we ask, could ever come out of such tears, anguish and bereavement. Our whole world seems to collapse in ruins around us. But there is instruction in the cloud. We learn how to comfort others with the comfort with which the Lord comforts us. We come to understand the tears of the Son of God in a way we could never have known otherwise.
We needn’t fear as we enter the clouds of life. They are educative. They are temporary. They are not destructive. They may hide the Lord’s face but not His love and power. So we should take to heart the words of William Cowper:
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
“…they feared as they entered into the cloud.” (Lu. 9:34)
Peter, James and John were on the mount with Jesus. Sensing that this was a significant moment in history and desiring to somehow preserve its glory, Peter proposed erecting three booths—one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. This, of course, would have put the Lord on the same level as the two Old Testament saints. God thwarted the project by enveloping them in a cloud. Luke tells us that “they feared as they entered into the cloud.”
They shouldn’t have feared. It was a cloud of glory, not of judgment. It was a temporary phenomenon, not a permanent fact of life. God was in the cloud, even though He was not visible.
Oftentimes clouds come into our lives and, like the apostles, we fear as we enter into one of these clouds. When God calls us to a new sphere of service, for instance, there is often the fear of the unknown. We imagine the worst in the way of dangers, discomforts and disagreeable situations. Actually we are just being afraid of a blessing. When the cloud lifts, we find that God’s will is good and acceptable and perfect.
We fear as we enter the cloud of sickness. Our minds run wild with alarm. We interpret every word and facial movement of the doctor as an omen of doom. We diagnose every symptom as pointing to a terminal disease. But when the illness passes, we find ourselves saying with the psalmist, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted” (Psa. 119:71). God was in the cloud and we did not know it.
We fear when we enter the cloud of sorrow. What good, we ask, could ever come out of such tears, anguish and bereavement. Our whole world seems to collapse in ruins around us. But there is instruction in the cloud. We learn how to comfort others with the comfort with which the Lord comforts us. We come to understand the tears of the Son of God in a way we could never have known otherwise.
We needn’t fear as we enter the clouds of life. They are educative. They are temporary. They are not destructive. They may hide the Lord’s face but not His love and power. So we should take to heart the words of William Cowper:
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time
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William MacDonald
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Prov. 25:11)
The combination of golden apples in a setting of silver is pleasingly appropriate. The two go together well. It is the same with a golden word spoken at just the proper time. “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” (Prov. 15:23).
A veteran missionary lady is dying in the cancer ward, still conscious but too weak to talk. A godly elder goes to her bedside just as the evening visiting hours are closing. Leaning over her bed, he quotes Song of Solomon 8:5, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” She opens her eyes and smiles. That is her last contact with this sobbing, suffering world. Before dawn breaks, she has left this wilderness, leaning on her Beloved. It was just the right word!
A family is numb with grief over the loss of a loved one. Friends crowd around with messages of condolence, but none seem to assuage the heartache. Then a letter comes from Dr. H. A. Ironside, quoting Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” That proves to be the right word from the Lord to snap the chain of sorrow.
As a group of young Christians are on a long trip, one starts to share some doubts concerning the Scriptures which he has picked up in one of his college courses. After listening for a while, one of the quieter, more forgettable passengers startles the group by quoting Proverbs 19:27 from memory: “Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.” It was an apple of gold in a setting of silver!
Then there is the familiar story of how Ingersoll, standing before a large audience, defied God to strike him dead in five minutes—if there was a God. The five minutes passed, heavy with suspense. The fact that Ingersoll was still alive was supposed to demonstrate that no God exists. Just then a nondescript Christian arose in the audience and asked, “Mr. Ingersoll, do you think you can exhaust the mercy of God in five minutes?” It was a word on target.
The proper word, spoken at the proper time, is truly a gift from God. We might well covet the gift so that the Spirit of God can use us to speak the appropriate word of comfort, encouragement, warning or rebuke.
l
William MacDonald
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Prov. 25:11)
The combination of golden apples in a setting of silver is pleasingly appropriate. The two go together well. It is the same with a golden word spoken at just the proper time. “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” (Prov. 15:23).
A veteran missionary lady is dying in the cancer ward, still conscious but too weak to talk. A godly elder goes to her bedside just as the evening visiting hours are closing. Leaning over her bed, he quotes Song of Solomon 8:5, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” She opens her eyes and smiles. That is her last contact with this sobbing, suffering world. Before dawn breaks, she has left this wilderness, leaning on her Beloved. It was just the right word!
A family is numb with grief over the loss of a loved one. Friends crowd around with messages of condolence, but none seem to assuage the heartache. Then a letter comes from Dr. H. A. Ironside, quoting Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” That proves to be the right word from the Lord to snap the chain of sorrow.
As a group of young Christians are on a long trip, one starts to share some doubts concerning the Scriptures which he has picked up in one of his college courses. After listening for a while, one of the quieter, more forgettable passengers startles the group by quoting Proverbs 19:27 from memory: “Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.” It was an apple of gold in a setting of silver!
Then there is the familiar story of how Ingersoll, standing before a large audience, defied God to strike him dead in five minutes—if there was a God. The five minutes passed, heavy with suspense. The fact that Ingersoll was still alive was supposed to demonstrate that no God exists. Just then a nondescript Christian arose in the audience and asked, “Mr. Ingersoll, do you think you can exhaust the mercy of God in five minutes?” It was a word on target.
The proper word, spoken at the proper time, is truly a gift from God. We might well covet the gift so that the Spirit of God can use us to speak the appropriate word of comfort, encouragement, warning or rebuke.
l
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