Sunday, September 5: Vitamin deficiency

In years past, many sailors on long-distance voyages died of scurvy, though it was not until 1932 that scientists were able to associate the disease with Vitamin C deficiency. Typically, scurvy occurs when a person has been deprived of Vitamin C for around 90 days. On those lengthy voyages, cured meats and grains outlasted the fresh fruits and vegetables that contained the essential vitamin. Similarly, Vitamin D deficiency causes rickets, which is a softening of the bones. This occurs mostly in children, and leads to deformity and fractures.


Obviously, all food does not give the same degree of sustenance. In 1978, Danish scientists created the Food Guide Pyramid, which was accepted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1992. The pyramid emphasizes that we need carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, fats, dairy products and proteins on a daily basis, further breaking down the specific amounts necessary for a healthy body.


Certainly, God draws a correlation between our physical needs and our spiritual ones. He designed our bodies along with the nutrients, vitamins and food items to supply those needs. In the same manner that our bodies cannot survive without those vitamins or nutrients, our spiritual nature cannot grow in a healthy manner without the right food:


So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 8:3


God demonstrated His miraculous hand by supplying the manna daily in the wilderness, yet additionally, He performed another miracle in that the heavenly food supplied every physical need of the wandering Jews. In a similar manner, Noah and his family of seven had no complaints of scurvy after spending 377 days aboard the ark. (Noah was told to enter the ark seven days before the rain, and the rains began on the 17th day of the second month according to Genesis 7:11-13, and they left the ark on the 27th day of the second month the following year). Fruits and vegetables certainly did not grow instantaneously once the water subsided, so Vitamin C would not be prevalent for even more time. Yet God miraculously carried them through.


He takes care of us spiritually in the same manner, if we are willing to open His Word. Sometimes, we complain that the sermons at church contain more milk than meat, yet as Christians, we should be able to open the Bible and receive meat from the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t mean it is wrong to desire some meat from the pulpit, but if you are a spiritual carnivore, church should not be the only place you are eating!


“Whom will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just drawn from the breasts?
10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”
Isaiah 28:9

Just as an infant does not feed on meat, but obtains the necessary nutrients from the mother’s milk, baby Christians don’t begin with the meat of the Word. As we grow in the Lord, we should reflect Him more, and that growth comes from a deeper understanding of God and God’s Word. Those home-cooked meals typically taste better than eating out at restaurants! Similarly, God desires to feed you at home, not just at church. Open up His Word if you desire the spiritual meat that will make you walk strongly in Him! The Bread of Life will give you all that you need!


13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:13-14