Live Coal: God’s Second Best

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Galatians 6:7

I am thankful that God has a second best. For as many times as I’ve rejected His first choice, He makes a way for me to fellowship with Him still.

This lesson is pictured best by a hymn at the close of a message on “God’s Second Best” preached by the late Dr. Peter S. Ruckman. The sermon catalogued the failures of men throughout history who fell from God’s perfect will, yet were restored by God’s unique grace. Dr. Ruckman closes that sermon with this:

Bob Jones, Sr. said, “Sin never leaves a man better than it finds him.” You say, “Well, God has sure blessed you and used you.” Yes, but not as good as if I hadn’t sinned.

And then he quotes this hymn, “The Bird with the Broken Wing.”

 I walked thro’ the woodland meadows,
Where sweet the thrushes sing;
And found on a bed of mosses,
A bird with a broken wing.
I healed its wound, and each morning
It sang its old sweet strain;
But the bird with a broken pinion
Never soared as high again.

I found a young life broken
By sin’s seductive art;
And touched with a Christ-like pity
I took him to my heart,
He lived with a noble purpose,
And struggled not in vain;
But the life that sin hath stricken
Never soared as high again.

But the bird with a broken pinion
Kept another from the snare;
And the life that sin hath stricken
Raised another from despair.
Each loss has its compensation,
There is healing for every pain;
But the bird with a broken pinion
Never soared as high again.

But the soul that comes to Jesus
Is saved from every sin,
And the heart that fully trusts Him
Shall a crown of glory win;
Then come to the dear Redeemer,
He’ll cleanse you from every stain;
By His wonderful love and mercy
You shall surely rise again.

-Hezekiah Butterworth

Taken from the July 2024 Bible Believers’ Bulletin, Vol. 48 No. 7, a monthly paper from the Bible Baptist Bookstore in Pensacola, Florida. I highly recommend subscribing to this periodical.

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