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.
From Strange Short Stories by Dr. Walter Lewis Wilson. Findlay, Ohio: Dunham Publishing Company, 1936.
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