When God created human beings, He did not intend for us to become ill, suffer from mental disorders, or lose our sanity. We have been given marvelous bodies that know what to do and how to maintain our health in harmony with nature and with God’s will.
How wonderfully I am made, O God! From birth until old age, my body is constantly occupied with maintaining my health and doing everything possible to accomplish this purpose. When it is attacked, it concentrates all its strength on resisting every kind of abuse and ailment.
Sin brought its own changes to our health. We became mortal beings, and our bodies became subject to deterioration, disease, and death. Yet despite all this, my body continues to fight persistently for my well-being. It wants me to feel comfortable in it and, in return for its labor, to care for it tenderly, keeping it warm and nourishing it with everything it needs. My body cannot provide for itself what is required to sustain its normal operation and vital functions. It depends on my mercy and my choices. It longs for me to study the laws of health and live by them, giving it everything it needs to function effectively.
If I begin doing something wrong, my body sends me distress signals and warns me that something is destroying it. Illness is not an accident; it is my body’s response to my way of living and thinking.
When I consider that my little house of happiness is within me and therefore must be very strong and in harmony with my entire body, insulating it through a study of the laws of health becomes important. Knowing these principles will help me avoid many problems and teach me to give my body what it continually needs.
If I owned a car and began pouring into it any substance I happened to find, as long as it was liquid, I think it would break down very quickly. I do not know any drivers who fill the fuel tank with water instead of the proper fuel. Water, though good in itself, is intended in a car only for cooling and washing the windows.
But when you look at what people pour into their bodies, you cannot help being amazed at human foolishness and ignorance. They treat themselves so cruelly.
My body asks for food, light, rest, and everything else it desperately needs.
The first law: Fresh air.
Air is the primary nourishment for my body, and I need it greatly because my entire being is designed to breathe continually. I inhale and exhale without even thinking about it. But if I am deprived of that ability, I will lose consciousness within a couple of minutes, and after ten minutes my brain will die and can no longer be saved. I breathe so that this will not happen, and I keep breathing throughout my life. Breathing is good, but what I breathe and how I breathe are also important.
The Lord filled our world with air. At the beginning of creation, He divided the waters that covered the earth and created the atmosphere—a realm in which life could breathe. God blended various gases in a special concentration and continues to maintain their composition in precise proportions so that I can breathe safely.
My body demands fresh air. It can never get enough of it. My body is ready to inhale it from morning until evening and never grows tired of doing so, even while I sleep. But what happens when I enter an enclosed room? I inhale whatever is in it and exhale what my body wants to remove from within me. If the room is not ventilated, I fill my lungs only with what is available there, gradually poisoning the air with my body’s waste products. And if someone is also smoking in that enclosed space, it destroys my health like a time bomb.
With all this in mind, I must choose what I will feed my lungs. Cool, fresh air is more beneficial than the warmth of an enclosed space, and my body needs the freshness of what it breathes.
The atmosphere of large cities is not the best nourishment for my body. Exhaust fumes, industrial waste, and various chemical emissions poison the air of large cities and turn them into destroyers of health. Yet cities offer people employment, material prosperity, comfort, and entertainment. This is like tasty cheese in a mousetrap: once you have tasted it, you can no longer imagine life outside the city.
Nature breathes purity. It is simple in its beauty and delights my body with its harmony. But I do not always think about breathing. I look for occupations and employment, and sometimes I find them under conditions that are far from favorable.
Yet this law also includes the breathing of the soul. The soul needs God so that it may breathe Him in.
Psalm 150:6 says, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” Because I have the breath of life, I can speak, sing, and commune with my Creator. It was He Who breathed life into me, and it is in Him that I live, move, and have my being. Without Him, my body will become breathless and dead. The Spirit breathes where He wills, and you hear His voice. Job 33:4 says, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
The second law: Pure water.
Someone has calculated that my body is 70 percent water. Water nourishes my cells, gives my body elasticity, protects it from shock, supplies all my organs with what they need, dissolves everything that enters me, and does many other things I never even consider. As the saying goes, “We simply cannot manage without water.” I need water every day. I can live without it only a little longer than I can live without air. Dehydration will also lead me quickly to death. Fortunately, our world is full of water. Our air is saturated with it. It is in the sky, in rivers, and in underground springs. All this has been given to us in abundance. But what do we drink? My body needs pure water. It does not need flavorful beverages, even though they contain liquid. It needs plain water. If I drink a soft drink, my body must filter it in order to extract the water, separating what is necessary and nourishing for the whole body. I can help my body and make this task easier by drinking pure water. But the flesh demands flavor, and I yield to its call, sometimes spending my money on things that destroy me, especially when such beverages contain poisons or alcohol. And I can never get my fill of water once and for all. I will always need it. I decide for myself who will teach me to drink properly—my reason or my flesh.
Jesus said that there is also Living Water. This Water is Jesus Himself and His teaching, which are equally essential to the whole body and soul. The Lord gives this Water of Life to everyone who thirsts. Come and drink. He is the purest Fountain, Which will never run dry. He quenches spiritual thirst, satisfies the soul, dissolves all knowledge, and carries it to every cell of my being, making the teaching of Christ a part of me. The Water of Life washes all impurity out of me and protects my spirit from shock.
All this is given to me with love so that I may live in it and be healthy.
Large cities offer water, but it is not the best drink for my body or my soul. God’s natural world gives me everything in a pure and beautiful form, receiving these bounties from the hands of the Creator. It is important to understand both what I am drinking and from Whom I am drinking.
Bible verses for this chapter:
Proverbs 30:1–2; Isaiah 32:6; Genesis 2:7; Job 33:4; Isaiah 42:5; Acts 17:24–25, 28; Psalm 150:1–6; John 3:8; 4:13–14; 7:37–38; Psalms 23:2; 63:2; Proverbs 25:25; Job 14:19; Isaiah 33:14–16; 55:1; James 3:11