Original Entry:
October 20, 2011
McMinnville, OR
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in
him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the
salvation of the Lord. It is good
for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Lamentations 3:25-27
It is more difficult
to do cardio vascular exercise than in my youth but it has little to do with my
age. The biggest difference between my
twenties and forties is about a pound a year!
My knees get sore thinking about it. Forty pounds is a third of my
wife’s body weight. Forty pounds is half
of my 13 year olds weight. Forty pounds
is about the weight of a backpack and all of it is sitting in the form of body
fat.
Forty pounds is my
yoke or burden to literally carry daily.
In Lamentations 3:25-27 we
arrive at three mentions of the word “good.”
The third mention says, “It is
good for a man to bear the yoke when he is young.”
“Good” for the modern
reader means something that agrees with one’s concepts and opinions. Goodness is
usually something that agrees with our philosophies or opinions. The word
“good” in the Hebrew language means something quite different. According to Frank Gaebelein in the Expositor’s
Bible Commentary it means, “That which expresses God’s will and purposes.”
In other words, it is
God’s will for a man to carry the weight, or yoke, while he is young. It is good to learn the disciplines necessary
to carry the weight of manhood while young.
It is good for
children to be under the discipline of parents (Hebrews 12:7-11) because it is in the foundation of a child’s
youth that he learns to become a man. In
his youth his habits are formed, his morals are solidified, and statistically
we know that his God is chosen.
A man becomes a man
as a boy. Conversely, like so many today,
a boy remains a boy though he is appears to be a (chronological) man.
How many boys grew up
with the meanest, nastiest dad in the world only to discover when they are adults
that good old dad knew more than they thought|?
Carry the weight
while young so you do not have to carry it when older. Learn to be a man sooner rather than later.
