Lesson From A Logger

Psalm 138:8a states, “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me;”

It was a little café at the foot of the mountains where the loggers were the main customers. A giant of a man—broad shoulders, suspenders, and a heavy beard— was enjoying his coffee. A stranger, short and citified, walked up to his table. “If I was as big as you, I would walk out into the woods and find a great big bear and wrestle it to the ground.” The logger replied, “There are plenty of little bears out there in the woods!”

Living in logging country (Naches, Washington, at the foot of the Cascade Mountains), I learned to respect the loggers. Heading up in the hills in an old beat-up pickup to go hunting before daylight, I came on a narrow place on the already narrow logging road. I saw headlights coming down the hill over the rise in front of me. It was a loaded logging truck. There was no way he could stop. I pulled the pickup as far into the bank on my right as possible and shut off my headlights. The logger never slowed down. He missed me by an inch or two. I got out and looked at the bank on the other side of the road. His stakes had gouged into the bank several inches. I did the best I could do. The logger took it from there and did a perfect job of missing me.

How often I fall short and get into trouble. Then the Lord comes by and perfects that which concerns me. We often try to do our best, only to find ourselves falling short of perfection. Others may look at our effort and applaud. Inside we see only our imperfections. I like the saying, “There’s not a horse that can’t be rode. There’s not a cowboy that can’t be throwed.” There is no perfect performance. This is so clear when it comes to living above sin. Adam, Noah, Abraham, the kings, and King David all show us moments of failing to live a perfect life.

Jesus came to make sin unacceptable in us. In Psalm 138:2, David cried unto the Lord. There he found strength in his soul. In verse 7, he had faith that God would revive him and save him. Finally, in verse 8, he has faith that God will perfect the things he is concerned about. Jesus doesn’t accept sin; He cleanses us from sin.

I love the hymn by James L Nicholson, “Whiter Than Snow”:

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want you forever to live in my soul, Break down every idol, cast out every foe; Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow: Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

David started out this Psalm by saying, “…before the gods will I sing praise unto thee” (vs. 1). The one that will point out our imperfections quicker than anyone is the devil. The hymn says, “break down every idol.” When Jesus washes us by His blood, we are truly clean. We can tell the devil that, and in the name of Jesus he has to flee.

I never met the driver of that logging truck. I would have liked to have treated him to breakfast. I might have said, “You make me want to learn how to drive a big logging truck and bring it down off the mountain.” He would have replied, “There are plenty of little pickups for you to learn to drive!”