JUNE RADIO MESSAGE WHAT DO YOU EAT? D id you know that there is a res taurant mentioned in the Bible? It is a rather strange eating place as we will see, and there is an interesting line of food which is offered. I won der whether any of you have eaten there with that kind of a diet. I give you my word, you will be sorry if you have. The first course out of the five served in this restaurant is found in Isaiah 44:20, “He feedeth on ashes.” That is right, the Bible says ashes. How would you like a diet of that? It is speaking of Ephraim. Ashes tell us that there was something there once, but now it has been destroyed and just the dirty dust remains. Hopes were vanished, plans were wrecked, and the future was ruined. Ashes symbolize tragedy. Why would anyone use this to feed on? The verse simply refers us to those who used to have something but now it is all gone. Yet instead of forgetting the past, they feed on it. I used to have a Cadillac, and now I have an old beat-up Chevrolet. I used to have a 16-room house, and now I live in just two rooms. I used to have lovely, sweet surroundings, a marvelous garden and flowers, but now I have weeds around the home. I used to be able to wear $150 suits, and now I buy them in a second-hand store. These are similar to some of the statements people often make. They only remember what they used to have. I have seen many folks who do that. They never seem to get over what they used to have or what they used to be. The only thing this type of memory serves to accomplish is to make us miserable. Those about us are generally not interested. Who wants to hear the “re-lived” past? The second interesting course is found in Hosea 12:1, “he shall feed on wind.” That is easy to come by to day. We call it “hot air,” and there
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are lots of folks who dispense that! They start talking and never seem to stop. (You know, they say, “a bore is one who when you ask him how he is he proceeds to tell you.” Or, “a bore is one who talks about himself when you want to talk about your self.” Hasn’t someone, perhaps a proud grandmother, said to you, “Have I shown you the pictures of the children?” Pretty soon they are off and running. One usually gets to see the “rogue’s gallery” whether he wants to or not. When I started in medical practice, the only kind of phones we had were party lines. One day when I picked up the receiver, I heard two women talking to each other. They weren’t saying anything worth listening to. Finally, since my call was vital and concerned a person’s health, I said, “Ladies, don’t you know that for every idle word that men speak, they shall give an account of it in the day of Judgment?” They were shocked to think that someone had been listening to them. I said, “Now, don’t get ex cited, ladies. It hasn’t been anything worth hearing. It is just wind and more wind.” Then, one time I saw in the paper a cartoon of a young married couple standing in the living room with a closed door. The caption had him say ing to his wife, “I think our friends must have been offended. They went home as soon as they said ‘goodbye.’ ” It is true that some people just don’t know how to say “goodbye” and a proper way to end a conversation. They are like the switch engine which has no “terminal facilities.” It is very common that after a church service someone will come up to tell me something which is very in significant. He may use the excuse, “Dr. Wilson, I want to ask you what you think of this situation.” Then he proceeds to tell me what he thinks. 3
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