Everyone is aware of muscles. They are apparent when boys show off their arms. Older men feel the ache in their muscles after strenuous exercise. Probably the most important muscle in our body is the cardiac muscle that pumps blood through the body thousands of times a day. There are over 400 muscles in the body, although we are completely unaware of some of them.

Without muscles you could not blink or turn your eyes. Muscles open your mouth and move your jaws as well as direct your tongue in its many activities. You turn or tilt your head with muscles, and every smile or scowl is produced by muscular actions. Food is moved down your throat to your stomach by muscles. The action of the stomach and much of the remaining digestive system is also under their control. Without their help you could not use a fork, sew a dress, hammer a nail or play the piano. Feet, legs, arms and fingers would all be useless without them, nor could you sit in a chair or even get out of bed. Walking requires the use of about 300 muscles, and just standing uses 144 back muscles to keep a person from falling.

Some muscles, called skeletal muscles, only perform when the brain instructs them. Others, the smooth muscles, act on impulse. All consist of thread-like fibers, blood vessels and tissue, bound in bundles and enclosed in a tough membrane. Upon command from the nervous system these provide the strength for their specific job. When God created man He designed every muscle perfectly and gave each one its own power plant through chemical energy. Calcium, potassium and other chemicals help supply the energy.

Some people falsely teach that man required millions of years to develop his wonderful body, but the Bible gives the true account. In it we read: "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life ... God is greater than man" (Job 33:4,12). Man's body was made complete in every detail by the Lord God. "His way is perfect" (Psalm 18:30). He left nothing to develop in later years. Sickness and death of the muscles and the rest of the body have come into the world because of sin. But the time is coming when those whose faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ will be given perfect bodies, as it is written: "We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" (Philippians 3:20,21).

Isn't this a wonderful promise? But it is made only to those who know their sins are forgiven because they have trusted in the Lord Jesus and the salvation work He completed on Calvary's cross. Have you accepted Him as your own Lord and Saviour? Are you included in this company?

Copied with permission from Messages of God's Love. More articles in The Wonders of God's Creation (Volume 1-4) by Sidney R. Gill, also published by Bible Truth Publishers.