The Ministry of Health and Healing

The Creator chose for our first parents the surroundings best adapted for their health and happiness. He did not place them in a palace or surround them with the artificial adornments and luxuries that so many today are struggling to obtain. He placed them in close touch with nature and in close communion with the holy ones of heaven.

In the garden that God prepared as a home for His children, graceful shrubs and delicate flowers greeted the eye at every turn. There were trees of every variety, many of them bearing fragrant and delicious fruit. On their branches the birds caroled their songs of praise. Under their shadow the creatures of the earth sported together without a fear.

Adam and Eve, in their untainted purity, delighted in the sights and sounds of Eden. God appointed them their work in the garden, “to tend and keep it.” Genesis 2:15. Each day’s efforts brought them health and gladness, and the happy pair greeted with joy the visits of their Creator, as in the cool of the day He walked and talked with them. Daily God taught them His lessons.

The plan of life that God appointed for our first parents has lessons for us. Although sin has cast its shadow over the earth, God wants His children to find delight in the works of His hands. The more closely His plan of life is followed, the more wonderfully will He work to restore suffering humanity. The sick need to be brought into close touch with nature. An outdoor life amid natural surroundings would work wonders for many a helpless and almost hopeless invalid.

The noise and excitement and confusion of the cities, their strained and artificial life, are most wearisome and exhausting to the sick. The air, fouled by smoke, dust, poisonous gases, and germs of disease, is a peril to life. The sick, for the most part shut within four walls, come almost to feel as if they were prisoners in their rooms. They look out on houses and pavements and hurrying crowds, with perhaps not even a glimpse of blue sky or sunshine, of grass or flower or tree. Shut up in this way, they brood over their suffering and sorrow and become a prey to their own sad thoughts.

And for those who are weak in moral power, the cities abound in dangers. In them, patients who have unnatural appetites to overcome are continually exposed to temptation. They need to be placed amid new surroundings where the current of their thoughts will be changed. They need to be placed under influences entirely different from those that have wrecked their lives. For a time remove them into a purer atmosphere, away from those influences that lead away from God.

Institutions for the care of the sick would be far more successful if they could be established away from the cities. And so far as possible, all who are seeking to recover health should place themselves amid country surroundings where they can have the benefit of outdoor life. Nature is God’s physician. The pure air, the bright sunshine, the flowers and trees, the orchards and vineyards, and outdoor exercise amid these surroundings are health-giving, life-giving.

Benefits of the Outdoor Life

Physicians and nurses should encourage their patients to be much in the open air. Outdoor life is the only remedy that many invalids need. It has a wonderful power to heal diseases caused by the excitements and excesses of fashionable life, a life that weakens and destroys the powers of body, mind, and soul.

To invalids weary of city life, with its glare of bright lights and noise of the streets, how soothing and healing are the quiet and freedom of the country! How eagerly do they turn to the scenes of nature! How glad they would be to sit in the open air, rejoice in the sunshine, and breathe the fragrance of tree and flower! There are life-giving properties in the balsam of the pine and in the fragrance of the cedar and fir. Other trees also have properties that are health restoring.

To the chronic invalid, nothing so tends to restore health and happiness as living amid attractive country surroundings. Here the most helpless can sit or lie in the sunshine or in the shade of the trees. They have only to lift their eyes to see beautiful foliage. A sweet sense of restfulness and refreshing comes over them as they listen to the murmuring of the breezes. The drooping spirits revive. The waning strength is recruited. Unconsciously the mind becomes peaceful, the fevered pulse more calm and regular. As the sick grow stronger, they will venture to take a few steps to gather some of the colorful flowers, precious messengers of God’s love to His afflicted family here below.

Plans should be made to keep patients out of doors. For those who are able to work, let some pleasant, easy employment be provided. Show them how agreeable and helpful this outdoor work is. Encourage them to breathe the fresh air. Teach them to breathe deeply and to exercise the abdominal muscles in breathing and speaking. This is an education that will be invaluable to them.

Exercise in the open air should be prescribed as a life-giving necessity. And for such exercise there is nothing better than the cultivation of the soil. Let patients have flower beds to care for or work to do in the orchard or vegetable garden. As they are encouraged to leave their rooms and spend time in the open air, cultivating flowers or doing some other light, pleasant work, their attention will be diverted from themselves and their sufferings.

The more that patients can be kept out of doors, the less care they will require. The more cheerful their surroundings, the more hopeful they will be. Shut up in the house, be it ever-so-elegantly furnished, they will grow fretful and gloomy. Surround them with the beautiful things of nature. Place them where they can see flowers growing and the birds singing, and their hearts will break into song in harmony with the songs of the birds. Relief will come to body and mind. The intellect will be awakened, the imagination quickened, and the mind prepared to appreciate the beauty of God’s Word.

Direct Minds to God

In nature something may always be found to divert the attention of the sick from themselves and direct their thoughts to God. Surrounded by His wonderful works, their minds are uplifted from the things that are seen to the things that are unseen. The beauty of nature leads them to think of the heavenly home, where there will be nothing to mar the loveliness, nothing to taint or destroy, nothing to cause disease or death.

Let physicians and nurses draw lessons from nature that teach about God. Let them point the patients to Him whose hand has made the lofty trees, the grass, and the flowers. Encourage them to see in every bud and flower an expression of God’s love for His children. He who cares for the birds and the flowers will care for the beings formed in His own image.

Out of doors, amid the things that God has made, breathing fresh, health-giving air, the sick can best be told of the new life in Christ. Here God’s Word can be read. Here the light of Christ’s righteousness can shine into hearts darkened by sin.

Oh, could I find, from day to day,
A nearness to my God,
Then would my hours glide sweet away,
While leaning on His word.
Lord, I desire with Thee to live
Anew from day to day,
In joys the world can never give,
Nor ever take away.
Blest Jesus, come, and rule my heart,
And make me wholly Thine,
That I may nevermore depart,
Nor grieve Thy love divine.
—Benjamin Cleveland.

Men and women who need physical and spiritual healing are to be brought into contact with those whose words and acts will draw them to Christ. They are to be brought under the influence of the great Medical Missionary who can heal both soul and body. They are to hear the story of the Savior’s love, of the pardon freely provided for all who come to Him confessing their sins.

Under such influences as these, many suffering ones will be guided into the way of life. Angels of heaven cooperate with human instrumentalities in bringing encouragement and hope, joy and peace, to the hearts of the sick and suffering. Under such conditions the sick are doubly blessed, and many find health. The feeble step recovers its elasticity. The eye regains its brightness. The hopeless become hopeful. The once despondent countenance wears an expression of joy. The complaining tones of the voice give place to tones of cheerfulness and content.

As physical health is regained, men and women are better able to exercise that faith in Christ which secures the health of the soul. In the consciousness of sins forgiven there is inexpressible peace and joy and rest. The clouded hope of the Christian is brightened. The words express the belief, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.” Psalm 46:1; 23:4; Isaiah 40:29.

My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine;
Now hear me while I pray,
Take all my guilt away,
Oh, let me from this day
Be wholly Thine.
May Thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart,
My zeal inspire;
As Thou hast died for me,
Oh, may my love to Thee
Pure, warm, and changeless be,
A living fire.
While life’s dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread,
Be Thou my Guide;
Bid darkness turn to day,
Wipe sorrow’s tears away,
Nor let me ever stray
From Thee aside.
—Ray Palmer.