Youth Verses Maturity

Scripture

The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

~Proverbs 20:29, NLT

Quote

If it hurts now remember: one day it will hurt worse.

~Ya’akov

I saw something interesting at Josie’s VB game on Saturday. I was sitting at ground level because I don’t like to climb and some young dude come bursting out of the stands and then stretches. He wanted to display his tattoos and his biceps. He was wearing a tight T-shirt to let everyone know that he works out. As the young people say, “he was chiseled,” and I could tell that he was very impressed with himself. He didn’t get in a hurry, he wanted to make sure all the ladies in the stand got a good look. Solomon said, “The glory of the young is their strength.” Hopefully, somewhere along the way, the young man will come to his senses. He who lives by the gym, dies by the gym. If you are 35 and you spend 3 hours a day lifting weights, you better be prepared to do it the rest of your life. I was young once and fairly strong. I liked to run, jump and climb. If I had to live my life over, I would leave out the marathons. Marathons are for skinny people who run on their toes not 5’10” 200 plus pounders that run like a camel, on their heels. Today, I will go to Madison and get a very painful shot in my right knee because I ran hundreds of miles just to get rid of headaches and relieve stress. There are people in their nineties who get around better than I do. Every time I see a fat person jogging; I think to myself, “You know not what you do.”

Speaking of strong arms, the Hebrew word for arm is zer-o’-ah and you will be shocked at how many times this word is used in connection to God {Exodus 6:6, 15:16, Deut. 4:34, 5:15, 7:19, Isaiah 52:10, 53:1, Jeremiah 17:5}. These are just a few, there are many more. A man’s strength is in his arms which is why the arms were a target in ancient warfare. You break a man’s arms and he becomes defenseless. It is also a synonym for God’s power, that which accomplishes His will. Israel was saved from Egypt by the Arm of the LORD. You and I were saved by the Arm of the LORD {Isaiah 53:1}. God’s right arm/slash hand is Jesus. In a sense, the ARM of the LORD was weak, broken and dying on the cross. But in truth, it was a demonstration of God’s ‘ḥeseḏ‘ {covenant love}. This is a divine love and it is perfect, unfailing, unrelenting, unconditional and unending. Is there a greater power than this love? Just remember what Paul said to Timothy,  Physical exercise is of little value, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

EXTRA

PTL for another great sabbath. On my way to Madison for shot in the knee. Have a great week.

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