Presented to the Alberni Valley Salvation Army, 25 January 2025 and Swift Current Corps 23 January 2011 as well as 28 January 2018, an on-line homily by Captain/Major Michael Ramsay
This is the 2025 version.
To view the 2018 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/01/psalm-14710-mans-legs.html
To view the 2011 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/01/psalm-14710-neither-delighteth-he-in.html
Psalm 147:10: “His pleasure is not in
the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man.” I thought
this was an appropriate passage to look at on Robbie Burns Day. For Christmas
one year Susan bought me some Bible Commentaries on Psalms. In one of these
books, Peter C. Craigie, from Scotland, writes:
…. It was the custom in Scotland for boys to wear the kilt to
church on Sunday; to this day I can recall singing the words of Psalm 147:10
‘Neither delighteth he in any man’s legs’. I pondered at that time the question
of whether scripture condemned the kilt.
When I read Peter Craigie’s quote I knew
immediately what I should preach on while I am wearing my kilt for Robbie Burns
Day. Do we know who Robbie Burns is? Robert Burns (1759-1796) was an 18th
Century Scottish poet and songwriter who wrote hundreds of lasting tributes to
Scottish life in both song and poetry. Of himself, he wrote:
The poetic genius of my country found me, as the prophetic bard
Elijah did Elisha—at the plough, and threw her inspiring mantle over me. She
bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my
native soil, in my native tongue; I tuned my wild, artless notes as she
inspired (ROBERT BURNS, Edinburgh, April 4, 1787).
Robert Burns is a poet; he is not to be
confused with Scotland’s patron saint; do you know who that is? …St. Andrew
from the Bible. St. Andrew’s Day is the 30th of November, and it is a national
holiday in Scotland. Robert Burns Day is the 25th of January and this is a good
time for the Scottish diaspora, people of Scottish heritage in this country
here to get together, wear the kilt, eat haggis, and listen to the bard’s
poetry, bagpipes, and watch or try some highland or Scottish country dancing.
Last night Susan, our parents, Sarah-Grace
and I went to the Robbie Burns dinner put on by PAHDA at Echo as we do almost
every year to watch Heather dance. When we were in Toronto and before,
Sarah-Grace would dance too. Robbie Burns Day is always a lot of fun
Verse 10 of our text today is not referencing
the kilt, Highland Dancing or Robert Burns. in the NIV it reads: “His pleasure is not
in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior [or
'man' in place of 'warrior' depending on the year published];” the rest of this
sentence is contained in Verse 11: “the LORD delights in those who fear Him,
who put their hope in His unfailing love.”
Psalm 147:10 is not talking about wearing a kilt, bathing
suit, or shorts when it says that God doesn’t delight in a warrior’s legs. This
passage is not addressing Christian modesty. It is telling us that if we put
our faith in something instead of God – in this example the passage is specifically
referencing the military: ‘horse’ being calvary and ’warrior’ being ‘warrior’ –
if we put our faith in people, the military, or anything else, instead of God, we
will not impress God - who is the creator, preserver, and governor of all things.
The prophet Samuel warned the ancient
Hebrews that if they were a unified country under a single political leader
that the leader would press their children into military service (1 Sam
8:1-22). King Solomon and his heirs did just this and more as they ignored this
advice of Psalm 147 and put their faith in themselves, their military, their
legs, and their horse until God finally had enough and put an end to the
Kingdom of Israel (2 Chr 36:17-21).
Putting their faith in their military or
the military of regional superpowers was futile. I think Canada is discovering
the challenges of trusting in the benevolence of superpowers these days.
What about us individually? Who do we
trust? We know that putting faith in anything instead of God, we
know that not trusting God is basically a rejection of Him and His Kingdom. A
New Testament equivalent is contained in Matthew 6:24-27:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love
the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life
more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by
worrying add a single hour to your life?
Psalm 147:10: “His pleasure is not in
the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man.” Psalm
147:11: “the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their
hope in his unfailing love.”
Now ‘fear’ can mean a lot of things in
the Bible. The word translated ‘fear’ in this verse, ‘yare’, in the tense and
context, refers quite simply to a moral reverence. It is a kind of deference
but it does not include any of the moral dread that is involved with other
variations of the word ‘fear’. An example of this ‘fear’, ‘yare’ in our society
is sort of like when one is in court and the judge tells you specifically to
remove your hat, you do it. This ‘yare-fear’ would probably be – in this
context - more like if someone meets me when I am out of uniform and they are
using rather rough language with a lot of profanity and swear words. As soon as
they recognize me or find out that I am an Officer/ pastor, they immediately
apologize for every swear word they ever uttered in their whole life it seems! ‘Watching
their language’ is out of respect for my vocation, my calling. It is not out of
fright. Likewise, we, in the Lord’s courtroom, need to respect his authority
and we can also put our faith in His unfailing love.
This unfailing love, (checed), relates
to a strong sense of goodwill especially as can be relied on in real times of
need (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7,12; Psalm 89:24, 28, 33, 49; 2 Samuel 7:15; Isaiah
55:3).[10] Sometimes this word is translated as ‘mercy’ or ‘kindness’. This
word, checed, relates to one you can turn to in a crisis. We all have
friends and family but we know that when the chips are down there are some we
can trust more than others. This word for love or mercy applied in this context
refers to one who will never let us down in a time of need. And that one is
God.
The Lord delights in those of us who
respect Him – who care enough about Him and His feelings to watch our language
around Him. And He can be trusted in our time of need because of His unfailing
love for us (cf. John 3:16ff.). We don’t need to rely on horse and men’s legs.
We don’t need to rely on cavalry and infantry. We don’t need to rely on man or
Mammon. We don’t need to rely on people or money. We don’t need to rely on
anyone in place or instead of God. God will provide.
How about us here today? Do we ever fall into this trap of trusting someone or something instead of God? Do we sometimes put our faith in money, the strength of the horse or the legs of a man? Do we ever put our faith in something that can let us down– instead of relying on God?
So today I would like to encourage you.
If there is anyone or anything in our life that we are tempted to put our trust
in ahead of God, if we have been let down by others, if we have been let down
by circumstances, if we have been let down by ourselves, there is still one who
can deliver us. There is one, and probably only one who will never let us down –
and that one is God. Really if everyone and everything else in life does let us
down, God promises that He will never leave us or forsake us.
So today, with all the real things that
our troubling us, let us trust God. He loves us and will take care of us. Let us pray
Posts
