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Health Devotional
Praise God for the Hope of Renewed Youth
He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. Ps. 103:14, NIV.
My father, a retired physician, several years ago became intrigued with gathering any medical research available on ways to slow down the aging process. For about a year he was a modern Ponce de León in search of the fabled fountain of youth. He wrote more than 1,000 letters to physicians, medical schools, research laboratories, and pharmaceutical houses all over the world, asking for any information, experimental treatments, or proven methods to restore youth or reverse the effects of old age.
He got back hundreds of replies. Some talked about experiments with growth hormone injections that have produced amazing results. One such treatment supposedly reverses 15 to 20 years of aging. The skin tightens, muscles improve, the lungs and heart strengthen. However, the writer warned that dangerous side effects make the procedure unsafe. Other doctors wrote of drugs to improve oxygen utilization. Some discussed various enzyme treatments that have shown promise. Still others recommended certain vitamins to restore lost vitality.
My father—a frail, white-haired man—turns 80 this week. Despite his search for the fountain of youth, he, like Ponce de León, will one day return to the dust from which we were all created. Even the most advanced discoveries in medicine have not been able to stop the clock of time.
We should all strive to live a healthy life, to enjoy the abundant blessings God intended us to experience here on earth. But our heavenly Father knows that we are frail, formed from dust. So I cling to the promise that God is returning to make all things new, including my father—and me! While I do my push-ups and sit-ups, I know that my heavenly Father will restore my youth when He restores my soul.
Like the psalmist, I praise the Lord "who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:3-5, NIV).
What can you praise the Lord for today?
My father, a retired physician, several years ago became intrigued with gathering any medical research available on ways to slow down the aging process. For about a year he was a modern Ponce de León in search of the fabled fountain of youth. He wrote more than 1,000 letters to physicians, medical schools, research laboratories, and pharmaceutical houses all over the world, asking for any information, experimental treatments, or proven methods to restore youth or reverse the effects of old age.
He got back hundreds of replies. Some talked about experiments with growth hormone injections that have produced amazing results. One such treatment supposedly reverses 15 to 20 years of aging. The skin tightens, muscles improve, the lungs and heart strengthen. However, the writer warned that dangerous side effects make the procedure unsafe. Other doctors wrote of drugs to improve oxygen utilization. Some discussed various enzyme treatments that have shown promise. Still others recommended certain vitamins to restore lost vitality.
My father—a frail, white-haired man—turns 80 this week. Despite his search for the fountain of youth, he, like Ponce de León, will one day return to the dust from which we were all created. Even the most advanced discoveries in medicine have not been able to stop the clock of time.
We should all strive to live a healthy life, to enjoy the abundant blessings God intended us to experience here on earth. But our heavenly Father knows that we are frail, formed from dust. So I cling to the promise that God is returning to make all things new, including my father—and me! While I do my push-ups and sit-ups, I know that my heavenly Father will restore my youth when He restores my soul.
Like the psalmist, I praise the Lord "who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:3-5, NIV).
What can you praise the Lord for today?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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