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Health Devotional
Battling Infectious Disease
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—Egypt, . . . all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” Jer. 9:25, 26, NIV.
Not too many years ago scientists thought that they were on the verge of conquering infectious illnesses. Advances in hygiene, nutrition, antibiotics, and immunization had apparently removed much of the serious threat of infectious scourges. In many countries it sounded like ancient history to talk of the ravages of such diseases as measles, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, polio, or smallpox. Yes, it seemed to be a real triumph for humanity and medical science.
Today, however, humans seem particularly impotent when it comes to defeating infectious illnesses. For every success a new infectious threat seems to arise. Newly recognized infections keep raising their ugly heads. A dozen years ago who heard of the deadly hantavirus that not too long ago grabbed attention in the four-corners area of the U.S. Southwest? Who knew about the diarrheal illness called cryptosporidiosis, which in a single outbreak caused some 400,000 Midwesterners to develop prolonged diarrhea? What about the scourge of recently recognized tick-borne infections such as Lyme disease and Ehrlichiosis? And then there are the international tragedies of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and drug-resistant tuberculosis.
E. coli 0157 h7 was unknown until 1982, but since that time it has caused multistate outbreaks and deaths from eating ground beef. Other infectious diseases relatively recently have become an important part of our vocabulary. They include Ebola virus, hepatitis C, Legionnaires’ disease, and toxic shock syndrome.
Yesteryear’s seeming progress of science against infectious disease is much like our individual human struggles against sin. Sometimes it may appear that we are getting the upper hand. By our ingenuity, determination, and effort we seem to be making ourselves into better people. But then reality confronts us. It is only through Christ that the power of sin can be broken in our lives.
“‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord” (Jer. 9:23-25, NIV).
Can you boast that you understand and know God? What could you do today to get to know Him better?
Not too many years ago scientists thought that they were on the verge of conquering infectious illnesses. Advances in hygiene, nutrition, antibiotics, and immunization had apparently removed much of the serious threat of infectious scourges. In many countries it sounded like ancient history to talk of the ravages of such diseases as measles, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, polio, or smallpox. Yes, it seemed to be a real triumph for humanity and medical science.
Today, however, humans seem particularly impotent when it comes to defeating infectious illnesses. For every success a new infectious threat seems to arise. Newly recognized infections keep raising their ugly heads. A dozen years ago who heard of the deadly hantavirus that not too long ago grabbed attention in the four-corners area of the U.S. Southwest? Who knew about the diarrheal illness called cryptosporidiosis, which in a single outbreak caused some 400,000 Midwesterners to develop prolonged diarrhea? What about the scourge of recently recognized tick-borne infections such as Lyme disease and Ehrlichiosis? And then there are the international tragedies of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and drug-resistant tuberculosis.
E. coli 0157 h7 was unknown until 1982, but since that time it has caused multistate outbreaks and deaths from eating ground beef. Other infectious diseases relatively recently have become an important part of our vocabulary. They include Ebola virus, hepatitis C, Legionnaires’ disease, and toxic shock syndrome.
Yesteryear’s seeming progress of science against infectious disease is much like our individual human struggles against sin. Sometimes it may appear that we are getting the upper hand. By our ingenuity, determination, and effort we seem to be making ourselves into better people. But then reality confronts us. It is only through Christ that the power of sin can be broken in our lives.
“‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord” (Jer. 9:23-25, NIV).
Can you boast that you understand and know God? What could you do today to get to know Him better?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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