Posts Tagged ‘Dr. Gayle Woods’
Mark 5:25-34
I did not know her, but I pastored him. Arthur’s mother had prayed for her wicked and wayward son without ceasing for years. He was raised in a holiness home and attended a holiness church regularly all of his younger years. He was ornery but not mean. He was rebellious but not evil. Church and spiritual matters held little interest for him as a boy. He did, however, enjoy the fun that he could have at church and was known for his practical jokes and ornery pranks.
Haley Stokes made a great impression on Arthur’s young mind as he stormed in the pulpit. Hell fire and graphic descriptions of the evils of society made the young boy squirm but did not bring him to repentance.
Often he came home late at night after a rollicking evening of sin. Then the discomfort of conviction would settle upon him as he heard his mother praying . . . for the salvation of her lost son.
Unfortunately she never knew the Arthur that I knew. Long before I first met Arthur, she went to heaven. He regretted his willful life and repented of his sins. His love for fun and his ready wit often surfaced when he testified of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
The many hours of prayer, the ache of a longing heart and the insistent faith of a little saintly woman bore fruit long after her own departure. This example joins many others who have not known the rewards of faith in this life but nevertheless have left a legacy for us to follow.
Dr. Gayle Woods
Job 38:4-8, 22-29; 42:1-3
No person has lived without wondering how all that is created came into existence. Job’s description may seem simplistic to the sophisticated. It is a statement of fact and of faith. The Christian knows that it is an inspired and accurate record of actuality. Even those who are Christians will at times tamper with the sacred truth of God’s creation.
Job is considered to be the oldest book of the Old Testament. It is interesting, therefore, to notice his apologetic for the creation of the earth and all other creation by God. In a poetic manner the author chides the reader reminding him that God has been here much longer that the oldest of creation and is actually the author of all that “lives, or moves, or has its being.” He says, “Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” The word for foundation is musada. Its primary meaning is “to found or to fix firmly” and it came to mean foundation. At times it is translated “to establish.” It means in a metaphorical sense, “that which cannot be moved.”
In addition the question is asked, “Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest?” The Hebrew word for measure is madad. It occurs fifty-three times and refers to measuring lengths or distances. Does God have a big tape measure by which he measures the size of the earth, stars and planets? No. The word is used in a symbolic manner to refer to the careful and correct design of God’s creation. God measures the oceans of the earth (Isa 40:12), the multitudes of future Israelites (Hos 1:10), the stars of heaven (Jer 33:22; 31:27), the territories of the earth for His chosen people (Psa 60:6), and the people that He will judge (Hab 3:6). Thus this term turns from the picture of a measuring rod or rule to that of a calculator but all the while refers to His exact knowledge of His creation and His supervision of the same.
Dr. Gayle Woods
