Daily Devotionals

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

Devotional: August 3rd

“He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.”

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 HYPERLINK "javascript:" 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.”.

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.