Pass the Verse
“Then God said, ‘Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.’ And that is what happened. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!”(Genesis 1:29-31 NLT)
I read the above verse on the morning before a weekend retreat. I didn’t have much time to think or write about it. I just copied it down and went on my way. That evening while I sat waiting for the retreat to start, I read the following verse from another section of the Bible:
“The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But the snakes will eat dust. In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!” (Isaiah 65:25 NLT)
Again, I didn’t have time to process it, so I just copied it down in my notebook.
There were several speakers at the retreat, one of whom had gone through cancer. She was currently in complete remission. She spoke about her faith and how it had helped her through her journey. Later in the evening, she sat down with a group of us at our table. During our conversation, she just randomly blurted out: I wish the Bible would tell me what to eat! Immediately, I remembered the verses I had written down. I felt like I should tell her about them, but I wasn’t sure what they meant. And who was I to tell her anything? I didn’t have any expertise. And I barely knew her. I decided to just keep my mouth shut. But the nudge to give her the verses wouldn’t go away. The next morning, on the last day of the retreat, I copied down the verses by hand on a sheet of notebook paper and handed them to this woman. I said: “Please ask God if this is meant for you because I have no idea if it is. She took a few minutes to read the verses. Then, she looked up and said--Yes, this is confirmation of something I have been thinking about for a while. She didn’t say much more.
After the retreat was over, I thought about these verses--but I couldn’t figure out what they meant. Perhaps...in an ideal world, humans and animals were created to consume plants. Descriptions of Heaven also mention carnivorous animals like lions eating plants. Maybe this is what God intended. OR maybe I was just meant to obey God and pass along these verses to someone else. I have no idea.
Lord, teach us to follow Your plan for our lives. Speak to us individually in ways we can recognize. Help us to obey Your prompts, even when they don’t make sense.