Did God Leave an Instruction Book? by Katie Kimball

"Let’s take a look," says doctor after doctor.

I don’t watch much TV, but I’ve caught this commercial in which doctors or medicine men in various cultures and historical time periods examine a boy with stomach pains. Only the modern doc with fancy equipment can actually "take a look" at the pain.

While the commercial pokes fun at old-time medicine, I think we mustn’t forget how intuitive that medicine could be.

The Creator of the Body Knows How it Works

So often, God has written into our very bodies recipes for health:

• Foods that aren’t good for us make our stomachs feel badly or interfere with our elimination, such that we can see and feel a problem.
• When we have a cold, our instincts make us cough and sneeze, to get the germs out. We want to rest, which heals our systems.
• Before our culture-driven mind gets in on the eating game, babies and very young children are born with the ability to (1) know when they have had enough food and (2) eat a balance of nutrients over the course of a week, including what they might need to treat a particular problem, without consulting the food pyramid or the super foods list. Even adults can crave certain food items that their body needs, without knowing why.
• Our taste buds and cultural norms direct us to put foods together that nutritionally complement each other, like beans and rice, tomatoes and olive oil, cheese and crackers.
• Bad food – rancid oil, moldy bread, etc. – tastes and smells awful to us, protecting our systems from the sickness that would come from eating it. Fumes that are bad for us also usually smell bad, too.
• Upon a serious injury, systems often go into shock to protect us from severe pain and losing control of our emotions.

Other times, He wrote health notes to us through His Word:

• When pork was often making people sick, pork was prohibited.
• God commanded the foreskin to be removed, and it is now proven that men with foreskin have more infections and other problems.
• A person was "unclean" for seven days after they touched a dead body (Numbers 19:11). As Rex Russell points out in the introduction to his What the Bible Says About Healthy Living, this probably saved many lives from contagious diseases passed by doctors and rabbis before we understood the value of handwashing.
• Teachings on fasting truly help humans to detoxify, particularly the tradition of fasting during Lent, in the springtime, the time of year that most agree is vital for detoxification.
• Even the simple reminders of moderation, of hospitality, laughter, consistent prayer – all improve our health, when obeyed.

Certainly this God who cares for the sparrow cares for our health. He wants our bodies to be proper temples of the Holy Spirit… The most fascinating fact I’ve learned lately is the powerful connection between the gut and the mind. Did you know that 70% of your immune system is in your gut, along with more neurons than your spinal cord? (source)

It’s like God wrote a secret code message to the scientists of our day when He created the world: "By the way, now that you’ve figured out how everything microscopic works, please take note that what people eat affects their health! And be thoughtful about it, will ya?" Actually, I don’t think the Lord would use exclamation points. That would be my influence, and one of many reasons He didn’t inspire me to write down any of His Scripture.

What else do you see in the natural world that points to the author of life writing good health into His Creation?

Next time...What is God's Plan for Our Health?


Copyright 2010 Katie Kimball