We Should Be Thankful...
Because we do not have universal joints at our elbows. How would
mother lift the skillet from the stove if the elbow joint did not
have "stopper" on the back side to keep the arm from
going all the way back? Have you been thankful that your knee is
not a universal joint? How would you ever stand upright or walk
if there was not a "stopper" to keep the knee from bending
all the way?
How thankful we should be because our teeth are made to match.
You had nothing to do with it -- neither did your good mother.
The President never planned it in any of his progressive programs.
It just happened that way because a loving, personal God, a thinking
God, a God who knew how, has ordained that people should be born
that way. The teeth are arranged in exactly the right way. You
could hardly chew corn from a cob with molar teeth. You certainly
could not bite through some of the steaks being offered us today
with wisdom teeth. Wisdom would tell you not to try it!
Do you not think that God was very kind when He placed your nose
on your face up-side down? If your nose were turned right side
up, then every time it rained, you would drown, and every time
you should sneeze, it would blow your hat off! God never intended
the nose to be a dust-catcher, so He placed it in the right position.
Only God could make an organ of taste. By the tongue, you can
tell whether the substance you place in the mouth is strawberry
or pumpkin pie -- whether it is potatoes or plums. The taste remains
the same all through life, and in every part of the world. Strawberries
and watermelons never taste like apples. What a mess we would be
in if vegetables, fruits, grains and meats should change their
taste every year, or should taste differently in different parts
of the world. Only God can preserve this condition, and only a
living, personal God who loves us could or would have given us
an organ of taste which could differentiate the different kinds
of food.
The farmer should bow his head in thanksgiving because he does
not need to plant all of his seeds right side up. What a job he
would have placing each grain in the ground in the proper position.
He never would get the job done, nor could he hire enough people
to do it in a satisfactory manner. The living Lord has placed in
each seed that peculiar thing which we call "Nature," so
that the seed never gets confused about directions, but always "comes
up." Who ever heard of a seed growing in the wrong direction?
All seeds of every kind may be placed in the ground in any position
and they will certainly find their way up to the light. If God
should fail to do this, just once, in any one season, what a catastrophe
it would be for the world.
The kindness of our wonderful Lord is revealed in the fact that
He has made our bodies with a "one shot system." You
put the food in your mouth, and get lubricating fluid in all the
joints of the body. How would you like to rise each morning and
grease all your joints? You never would get to work on time, and
mother never would have breakfast ready. You would squeak at every
move because you would certainly forget some of the joints. What
a bedlam we would have in the schoolroom because many of the lazy
children would never take care of their joints. God has taken care
of this need by letting us put all the necessary ingredients in
one place -- the mouth. He has arranged the body to take care of
all the joints, the nerves, and every other part.
We are a thankless lot. We grasp after and grab every good thing
that God has to offer, and usually forget to thank the One from
whom we received it. He has placed our eyes in deep sockets, protected
by overhanging ledges of bone, and eyebrows to catch the dust,
yet how many of us thank God for thus preserving our eyes. He has
placed the heart -- the most precious of all our organs -- within
its bony prison, protected by ribs and by arms, but we take it
for granted, and forget. The important blood vessels of the body
and the principal nerve trunks are placed safely on the flexor,
or inside places of the arms and legs, as well as in deep-seated
places in the rest of the body. A wise and understanding God knew
the hazards on the road of life and arranged special protection
for these parts which are so essential for life.
Do you know why or how or when the human heart gives its first
beat? There is a time in the life of the unborn child when there
is no heart beat whatever. The heart is just being formed. The
parts are not complete. Then, one day, that heart, tiny as it is,
gives its first beat. Why does it do it? What makes it do it? The
mother had nothing to do with it, nor the father. Certainly the
child does not bring it about by any will power of its own. The
great men of earth do not cause it to happen -- no laws have been
passed in any country to govern it. God starts it. Only God will
stop it. The God who made it -- the God who starts it beating,
and the God who will stop its beating wants you to let Him have
that heart of yours.
We should be thankful for the goodness of God in providing so
richly for both the body and the soul. He has given us wool, cotton,
linen, silk, and leather whereby the body may be clothed, preserved
from heat and cold, and equipped for the conditions of life. He
has given us grains, vegetables, fruits, meats and liquids for
the sustenance of the body that we may be well, strong, and healthy.
He has given us educational facilities, arithmetic and all other
mathematics, all forms of languages, music, physical training,
sciences and arts, that we may live intelligently, act efficiently,
and serve successfully. All of these should lead us to want from
His gracious and loving hand the provision He has made for our
souls. The Word of the Lord is to teach us His will. The Work of
the Lord is to reveal His mind. His Son is to cleanse us from our
sins. Trust Him.
Copied by Stephen Ross for WholesomeWords.org from Strange
Short Stories by
Dr. Walter Lewis Wilson. Findlay, Ohio: Dunham Publishing Company, 1936. |
