Nature as a Source of Health
By Stephen Terry
Sabbath School
Lesson Commentary for March 12-18, 2011
"The LORD God
took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of
it." Genesis 2:15, NIV
Our
lesson this week is about God's desire for mankind as expressed in the story of
His creation of man and woman, Adam and Eve. God says these human beings
were made "in his own image, in the image of God he
created them; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27, NIV Adam,
formed from the Earth is uniquely bound to its destiny. Eve, formed from Adam's
rib, is bound to the Earth also through Adam.
This
couple and their descendants were given the special privilege of carrying in
their persons a representation of God. The exact nature of that representation
is not described in the Genesis account. Some have thought that maybe this
referred to man's creativity as a reflection of
God's activities during creation week. However, we probably get a clearer
picture of what was meant through Jesus. He said, "...Anyone who
has seen me has seen the Father..." John 14:9, NIV
When we
look at the life of Jesus, we see love, compassion, healing and comfort. These
are more likely the attributes that can continue to preserve God's image in
mankind. In other words, man like God was created to be a blessing to all of
creation, including his fellow man. (See Isaiah 58:6-12 and Matthew 25:31-46)
In
Why
then when we look around us, today, do we see so little of these godlike
attributes? Created to desire healing, we often bring war and death.
Created to show love and compassion, we bring abuse and indifference. In
Genesis, chapter 3, we find that mankind began making choices that sent us down
the wrong path. Man chose a path of disobedience. By his choice he denied that
God would provide all that was best. We began a path of rebellion that
permeates everything human to this day.
Instead
of reflecting the image of God, we have been working hard to eradicate it. That
image for many has become very faint. Yet, when we look at nature,
something within us may still stir our hearts. When we look at the starry
expanse of the night sky or at the vastness of the ocean, we know that we were
created for a higher destiny. But how do we get back to that beginning.
We have wandered so far. Can we still find our way back to
The Bible tells us that one day
John,
in his third epistle, wrote: "...I wish above all things that thou
mayest prosper and be in health." 3 John 2, NIV Certainly this is God's desire for
us as well, and we see evidence of that throughout His creation. In
The bottom line? If
nature is healthy we are healthy. The opposite is also true. Unfortunately, we
have not been healthy for a very long time. Rather than follow the path
of love, healing and compassion, far too many have followed the path of greed
and violence. We have slain our fellow human beings in order to possess
the resources to have things we do not need. We have
overfished our oceans, defoliated our forests, fouled our water, and surrounded
ourselves with the detritus created as a by product of our desire for these
things. As the waste accumulates, we become like cats with a saturated
litter box. We paw and paw to try to cover the odor, but there is no more
clean litter to absorb it. Is it any wonder that God must replace what we have?
While we wait for the new "Kitty Litter," we wonder when it
will arrive.
In
mercy, until Jesus returns and the Earth is restored, God has blessed mankind
with increased knowledge to help us to to try to be
as healthy as possible while we are waiting. We have knowledge about
diet, exercise and healthy lifestyles that previous generations did not have.
If we choose to ignore the knowledge God has given, his compassion has
also provided knowledge for medical facilities, treatments, and medicines to
mitigate the results of our poor choices. Truly, knowledge has increased beyond
imagining. (See Daniel 12:4) For thousands of years, we could travel on land no
faster than a horse could gallop, and we could traverse the oceans no faster
than the wind could drive our sails. In only one century we have gone
from such limited means of travel to traveling around the entire Earth in
hours. All that knowledge gives us power for great good and great evil. A
two-edged sword, the progress of science and technology has been stunning.
However, the price for our advances has been high. In
order to have a hot bowl of soup in 2-3 minutes instead of waiting 10 minutes
to heat a pan on the stove, we have filled the earth with piles of packaging
that will not decompose. Technology moves forward so quickly that we also fill
our landfills with dated products that leach heavy metals into our aquifers.
Even the countryside which less than a century ago was filled with pastoral
scenes of family farms is now converted to factory farming, and the rich,
country soil is filled with pesticides and nitrates that do their part to
shorten our lives. The earth is wearing out. While this may be a surprise
to some, God knew this would happen. In the Psalms, we read, "In
the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the
work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all
wear out like a garment..." Psalm 102:25-26, NIV From the very beginning He put in
place a plan to deal with it, and Jesus will return to make it right.
In the
mean time, we do what we can and seek God's help to survive. Relying on Paul's
words to Timothy to guide our way, we trust God for what we need to sustain us. "For
everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received
with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and
prayer." 1 Timothy 4:4-5, NIV The same God who protected the Jews
while
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