You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth… (Psalms 104:14)
In a previous devotional we established the fact that all food comes from God. We saw that the Bible clearly teaches that God our Creator is the one who creates and supplies food to us. All food originates from reproducing plant life – life that God created. It takes water, air and sunlight for plants to grow, elements that God also created and regulates. The animals that become meat for our food are dependent on this same plant life, air, water, and sunlight.
Psalm 104 is a psalm that clearly establishes this truth:
He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart. The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. (Psalms 104:5-24)
In considering how God supplies us with food, we must also consider a very important event in the history of man. When the original couple Adam and Eve sinned, it affected all of creation, including food production:
And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19)
Prior to this event, Adam’s job, the first occupation of mankind, was tending the Garden of Eden, a perfect paradise that he neither created nor planted:
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers… The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:8-15)
What a difference between “working and keeping” a garden in paradise planted and watered by God, to the work of “sweat and pain” needed to bring forth “plants of the field” infested with thorns and thistles! The whole nature of food production changed completely, but man is still dependent upon God to supply everything necessary to produce food.
Today in the 21st century, however, man has built a society based on a humanistic view of life where man is believed to be the highest form of life that has evolved. Man has now taken on the role of the new “creator” of food. Modern man will have none of that “sweat and pain” and hard work stuff when it comes to producing food, because in his belief system technology has replaced all of that. As is portrayed in science fiction stories, there is a belief that one day we will be able to “create” our own food at the touch of button.
The problem with this belief system of course is the truth that man is not a creator of life, but is himself created from dust: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Can man and his “wonderful” technology really reverse God’s curse on sin, and its corruption of the natural world? No. Take a look again at Psalm 104 and look at these verses:
These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. (Psalms 104:27-30)
As I have written in many other places, modern man worships “science” which today has a very narrow meaning that only looks at the physical world. It ignores the spiritual realm altogether. But man’s technology cannot stop man from dying a physical death, which happens when the spirit leaves and the physical part of man begins to decay and return to the elements of the earth (“dust”). In the same way, man-made things can never achieve to the things created by the Spirit of God. As the verse in Psalm 104 clearly states: “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created…” Man cannot do this.
So make no mistake about it. There is a right way to produce food and a wrong way. The right way recognizes that all food originates from God, and is the result of trusting God and working hard. The wrong way to produce food believes that technology can produce food easily and with little effort, because the producers deny the existence of God and that all food originates from him, and they deny that there is a curse on nature that affects the way food is produced. They put their trust in themselves and their technology.
I am thoroughly convinced that “technology” in and of itself is not evil. It is neutral, because ultimately all knowledge comes from God also. It is the application of technology that can either be helpful or harmful. In the case of food production, technology cannot improve on the quality of food the way God created it. It can only increase production. Technology can increase quantity, but if it is ignoring the principles God has placed in his creation, it can also degrade the food to the point where that food is no longer healthy for us because of its alteration, or lack of essential nutrients.
The best example of this today is probably the case of genetically modified crops. These “foods” have not been around for very long, and we are only now starting to see the results of eating them. Earlier this year the American Academy Of Environmental Medicine issued a press release on genetically modified foods that stated: “there is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects” and that “GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health.” Their position paper references several studies backing up their claims, and can be read here.
Just this week a federal judge ruled that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture improperly approved genetically modified sugar beets in 2005 and ordered the agency to conduct a more exhaustive study of the crop's environmental impact.” (Article here.) The problem is that since 2005, 95 percent of the total sugar beet acreage in North America is already genetically modified. The safety of these foods is now being questioned. Didn’t hear about this in your local or national news this week? It got a big yawn from most media outlets. In June this year a federal appeals court upheld a 2-year-old ban on genetically modified alfalfa. In both cases, courts ruled that regulators must “conduct a more thorough review of genetically modified crops before approving them.” But our government under the USDA has already approved these crops and many of them are already a major part of our food system, while most of the rest of the world still bans them. There are currently no labeling laws in the U.S. to identify GM foods, so there is currently no way to distinguish them in grocery stores.
When our country was founded, 90% of the population was involved in agriculture. When Abraham Lincoln was president during the Civil War, about 50% of the population was involved in agriculture producing food, and much of the population still lived near farms that produced food. Today, less than 1% of the population in the United States produces food for everyone else. Do you know who produces your food? Do you know what you’re eating? Do you think your food is safe just because it is legal and you can buy it in a grocery store?
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. (Psalms 145:15)
Related article: Who do You Trust for Your Food?
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