Spiritual Lessons from the Body: A Biblical Survey of the Eyes, the Ears, the Tongue, the Hands, the Feet, the Heart, and the Mind

By Dr. Armand L. Weller

God designed us. Therefore, He knows how we function, including the best way to communicate with us human beings. God designed the human brain to receive and transmit most effectively through word pictures. Because God wants everyone to know about Him and His principles for life, He chose to reveal Himself to us through these various word pictures.

In his book Spiritual Lessons from the Body, author Dr. Armand L. Weller shows us how God crafted the human body like a master artist or potter. God uses each part of the human body as a unique teaching tool. Weller explains how Gods intricate design uses the human body to teach us invaluable life and spiritual lessons.

The psalmist tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made. The human body is one of Gods most glorious word pictures. As you read Spiritual Lessons from the Body, you will see in each aspect of Gods artwork lessons about life contained within the physical reality of the human body.

Time and again, God and the writers He inspired turn to the human body as a source of insightful word pictures. In Spiritual Lessons from the Body, Armand Weller studies these word pictures and offers some fascinating and thought-provoking lessons about the spiritual realities of our earthly bodies. Read it, and you will discover Gods character in a new and fresh way. Youll gain a deeper understanding of Gods mind, His heart, and the way He is working in your life.

Rev. Dr. Mike Sigman, Lead Pastor of Grace Community Church of Willow Street, Past President Evangelical Seminary, and Bishop Emeritus of the Evangelical Congregational Church.

I felt both a sense of amazement and intrigue as I read this book. You, too, can read it and be blessed.

Rev. Scott Johnston, Chaplain, Willow Valley Communities

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491788417

Dr. Armand L. Weller

Dr. Armand L. Weller was a pastor, an author, a composer, and teacher for more than fifty years. During his career, he mentored pastors across the country and served as the executive director of two national renewal groups. He is retired and lives with his wife, Barbara, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BODY

A BIBLICAL SURVEY OF THE EYES, THE EARS, THE TONGUE, THE HANDS, THE FEET, THE HEART, AND THE MIND

Copyright © 2016 Dr. Armand L. Weller.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Biblical quotations are from the translations designated and used by permission.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-8842-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-8841-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016901388

iUniverse rev. date: 02/02/2016

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

SECTION I:   The Eyes

Chapter 1   The Eyes: The Biblical Words

Chapter 2   The Eyes: The Physical Reality

Chapter 3   The Eyes: The Lord’s Way of Seeing

Chapter 4   The Eyes: The Spiritual Dimension

Chapter 5   The Eyes: The Church’s Equipment

Chapter 6   The Eyes: The Proper Use

Chapter 7   The Eyes: The Practical Results

SECTION II:   The Ears

Chapter 8     The Ears: The Biblical Words

Chapter 9     The Ears: The Physical Reality

Chapter 10   The Ears: The Lord’s Way of Hearing

Chapter 11   The Ears: The Spiritual Dimension

Chapter 12   The Ears: The Church’s Equipment

Chapter 13   The Ears: The Proper Use

Chapter 14   The Ears: The Practical Results

SECTION III:   The Tongue

Chapter 15   The Tongue: The Biblical Words

Chapter 16   The Tongue: The Physical Reality

Chapter 17   The Tongue: The Lord’s Way of Speaking

Chapter 18   The Tongue: The Spiritual Dimension

Chapter 19   The Tongue: The Church’s Equipment

Chapter 20   The Tongue: The Proper Use

Chapter 21   The Tongue: The Practical Results

SECTION IV:   The Hands

Chapter 22   The Hands: The Biblical Words

Chapter 23   The Hands: The Physical Reality

Chapter 24   The Hands of the Lord

Chapter 25   The Hands: The Spiritual Dimension

Chapter 26   The Hands: The Church’s Equipment

Chapter 27   The Hands: The Proper Use

Chapter 28   The Hands: The Practical Results

SECTION V:   The Feet

Chapter 29   The Feet: The Biblical Words

Chapter 30   The Feet: The Physical Reality

Chapter 31   The Feet of the Lord

Chapter 32   The Feet: The Spiritual Dimension

Chapter 33   The Feet: The Church’s Equipment

Chapter 34   The Feet: The Proper Use

Chapter 35   The Feet: The Practical Results

SECTION VI:   The Heart

Chapter 36   The Heart: The Biblical Words

Chapter 37   The Heart: The Physical Reality

Chapter 38   The Heart of the Lord

Chapter 39   The Heart: The Spiritual Dimension

Chapter 40   The Heart: The Church’s Equipment

Chapter 41   The Heart: The Proper Use

Chapter 42   The Heart: The Practical Results

SECTION VII:   The Mind

Chapter 43   The Mind: The Biblical Words

Chapter 44   The Brain: The Physical Reality

Chapter 45   The Mind of the Lord

Chapter 46   The Mind: The Spiritual Dimension

Chapter 47   The Mind: The Church’s Equipment

Chapter 48   The Mind: The Proper Use

Chapter 49   The Mind: The Practical Results

The Epilogue

Other Books by Dr. Armand L. Weller

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have been teaching on the subject of spiritual lessons we can learn from the physical body for many years. I have finally put it all down in book form.

I want to express my special thanks to my wife Barbara who is an excellent author and editor in her own right. The final shape of any book I write is radically transformed by her incisive expertise. I always present my initial draft to her with fear and trembling. After the first shock of her reaction to my efforts, I find myself relieved that she has such wisdom and insight and patience to give meaning to my ramblings.

Of course, I especially want to give thanks to the Lord for the insights He has given over and over again. I am constantly amazed at the truth and on its impact on the spirit, truths that can often be expressed in very simple and uncomplicated ways.

It is my hope that the thoughts in these pages will inform and inspire. I have said often, If I can understand it, any one can understand it.

THE INTRODUCTION

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. The human body is one of God’s most glorious word pictures. Not only is it designed perfectly, not only does it function in amazingly intricate ways, it is also one of God’s unique teaching tools. As we survey the way God crafted the human body like a master artist or potter, we see in each aspect of His artwork lessons about life. Very simply, there are countless spiritual lessons to be learned from the physical reality of the human body.

Because God has designed us, He knows best how we are to function, including the best way to communicate with us human beings. God designed the human brain to receive and transmit most effectively through word pictures. Because God wants everyone to know about Him and His principles for life, He chose to reveal Himself to us through various word pictures.

This extends even to the language developed by the Hebrews, God’s chosen nation. He gave the Hebrew people the primary task of telling the rest of the world about their God – the one true God. Hebrew is a language that communicates through images and relationships. For example, if you were to describe God in the more precise and philosophical Greek language, you might say He is the source of all life. If you were to say the same thing in the Hebrew language, you would probably say, God is our heavenly Father. The message is the same; but the power of the simple word picture transmitted through the Hebrew imagery has a greater impact on the mind. It is more understandable by more people, no matter what their level of education.

How can we explain the wonder of an eternal God in all His majesty with our limited human understanding and finite language? Well, we could say God is too big to be described with one picture. So we understand that He has revealed Himself to us as one God, but in three persons. He is three persons in a unified relationship, one person always honoring the others in what we call the Trinity. Now, while this image raises as many questions as it answers, it does help us to get a handle on the intricacies of the eternal, supernatural, otherworldly God who is, quite simply, beyond human comprehension. While He is transcendent, God is also imminent. All we know about God has been revealed to us by God Himself. This is as simple as the infinite, awesome God gets.

We will find, as we examine the spiritual lessons found in the various parts and systems of the human body, that God is telling us, through vivid images, truths about Himself, about spiritual realities, and about the Church of Jesus Christ … described by the apostle Paul as the Body of Christ, another great, vivid word picture.

As we look at each of seven parts of the human body, we will begin to understand the biblical language used and some of the nuances these words reveal. We will describe the physical reality of seven specific human body parts, how they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and how they operate. We will then learn how the Bible uses these body images to describe truths about God. For example, the human eye will help us to see what the Bible says about the eyes of God.

We will also look at the spiritual principles we can learn from the way our human body operates. We will discover how the various gifts and fruit of the Spirit function comparably in the Body of Christ. We will learn some of God’s rules about using each physical and spiritual body part. Finally, we will consider the practical results of following the precepts of God for using our human body properly and for properly being the Body of Christ to His glory.

I hope you are ready for an intriguing journey into the mind and wonder of the God of the universe. He is the architect and planner of all that is. Every artist and craftsman reveals something of himself in the artifacts he makes. Let’s see what lessons God has chosen to reveal to us about Himself and ourselves as we study the body and its spiritual lessons.

SECTION I

THE EYES

CHAPTER 1

THE EYES: THE BIBLICAL WORDS

Hebrew Words

We begin by looking at the Hebrew words that translate into English as the eye or to see. The first word to note is ayin that sounds a lot like our English word eye. It is pronounced ah-yin. It has the traditional Hebrew "in ending, which indicates duality. That is to say, when the Hebrew speaks of the eye, he speaks of both of them together. That makes perfect sense when we realize that for the eye to work in the way God originally designed it, we need two of them. Spaced only a few inches apart, when information is sent from both eyes to the brain through the optic nerve, they register not only an object but a three dimensional object. Not only is the object seen, but because both eyes register information about the object, we can gauge how far away the object is through what is called depth perception." We will look into this in more detail later. Examples of where ayin can be found in the Old Testament are Exodus 21:24, Deuteronomy 32:10, Ezra 5:5, and Psalm 32:8.

A second Hebrew word that deserves our attention is shaw-aw, and is the verb for to see. This word conveys the sense of intense gazing. The eye is not put to its best use when it only glances uninterestedly at some object or action. The eye is most effective when we use it to inspect something, when we honestly pay attention to what is happening. We might say, through the work of the eye, we consider how we relate to what we see and how it might impact our lives.

Most of us who drive a car have had this kind of strange experience. Our mind drifts onto something completely unrelated to our driving. When we come back to the task at hand, driving the car to a predetermined destination without having an accident, we look around us, note where we are, and wonder how we got there. Those things we saw while we were daydreaming only registered lightly. We did not gaze intently at the scenes around us or at the other vehicles and pedestrians going by. At those moments, we thank God that we did not cause an accident. Shaw-aw means to gaze intently, inspect, take in, and consider the sensory stimuli received by our eyes.

Greek Words

There are 105 occurrences of the word eye in the New Testament of the Bible. Six different Greek words are translated as eye. Of the 105 times the Greek word for eye is mentioned, οφθαλµοσ is used 99 times. This word, pronounced ophthalmos, sounds very familiar because its English counterpart is the term used for an eye doctor, an ophthalmologist.

The oph in ophthalmos comes from the op of the Greek word, οπτοµαι (pronounced op-toe-my) This is the verb to see. Interestingly, the detailed definition for this verb is almost identical to the Hebrew verb shaw-aw. It means to penetrate, to gaze with wide-opened eyes as though looking at something remarkable. Those who use their eyes most effectively as God intended might be called wide-eyed wonders. Here again, we find familiar English applications of this Greek word. We see it in the English words optometrist and optical. Optometrists help us see more clearly. On the other hand, the ophthalmologist looks more intently at the functioning or malfunctioning of an eye and how it can be healed, if necessary. Ophthalmos can be found in the New Testament in Matthew 6:22, Mark 7:22, Luke 6:41, and John 9:15.

CHAPTER 2

THE EYES: THE PHYSICAL REALITY

The obvious purpose of the eye as God created it is to help us see physically. According to Matthew 6:22-23, the eyes let light into the body. When the eyes are not working properly, they are unhealthy and need to be healed. On many occasions, we read of the miraculous way Jesus healed the eyes of those who were blind. That brings to mind the familiar saying, There are none so blind as those who will not see.

The eyes are mentioned in the law called lex talionis, which we commonly refer to as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This was the law that lifted the Hebrews to a higher ethical plane than other cultures around them. Up until that time, the rule was, this for that. If someone injures you, injure him more. If some one destroys your eye, kill him if you can. God said, No. That is too much. God, instead, limited any retaliation to this for this (see Matthew 5:38, Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21). Jesus later shows us something even better than retaliation or lex talionis – turning the other cheek and loving our enemies (see Luke 6:27-29).

The Wonder of Physical Sight

The eye is one of the most complex structures in God’s marvelous design for the human body. There are 107,000,000 cells in each eye. 7,000,000 of these cells are called cones. They can distinguish more than 1,000 shades of color. Most of the cells in the eye, 100,000,000 of them, are called rods. They distinguish all the shades of light and darkness the eyes behold. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, in their book In His Image, point out that an eye working in the best of conditions can detect a candle fifteen miles away.

In one second, the brain receives a billion messages from the multitude of cells in each eye. Even now, as you are reading these words, you see black print on a white sheet of paper. At the same time, you are aware of shapes and shades and colors of so much more all around you, beyond the book you hold in your hand or the computer on which you are reading these words. All of those sensory perceptions received in the brain are sorted and catalogued and labeled instantaneously upon receiving them. Sitting here at my computer, I see the beautiful shade of bright blue on my computer screen, the warm shades of brown running through the wood grain of my desk top, the seemingly endless green hues in the garden outside my office window, and so much more. All are perceived in a moment and are precisely understood. What a wonder the human eye is! And yet it makes up only one percent of the weight of the entire head.

Brand and Yancey quote Leonardo da Vinci who asked, Who would believe that so small a space could contain the images of all the universe? O mighty process … what talent can avail to penetrate a nature such as this? What tongue will it be that can unfold so great a wonder? Truly none!

Part of a Bigger Design

The apostle Paul made it clear in I Corinthians 12 that each one of us has an important part to play in the Body of Christ and its work. No part of the body is more important than any other part. Each part of the body must work together with all the other parts to be most effective in accomplishing God’s purposes.

Have you ever noticed that the tongue does not see very well? It was not designed to see. That is the job of the eyes. Have you ever been to a dentist who filled a cavity in your tooth? After the dentist cleans out the decay, he gets the amalgam used to fill the cavity. While his back is turned, have you ever taken the tip of your tongue and tried to measure the size of the cavity? To your tongue, it seems cavernous. But, if you could actually see it, you would realize how small the cavity really is.

Without the assistance of our gifted eyes, we perceive things much differently. Have you ever admired the extremely talented Ray Charles? His creativity as a blind musician is amazing. You may have noticed his tendency to sway to the right and left more than other musicians. To him, that is natural. If he could see, those movements would be diminished. Try it yourself sometime. Close your eyes and sway to the music. You will perceive your movements differently.

Another example of that experience can be found in the Space Mountain ride at Disney World. When this roller coaster ride is in total darkness, the movement of the cars in all directions seems so much more exaggerated than if some one came by and turned on all the lights so you could see what was happening.

The eyes are absolutely awesome in design and operation. But they do their best work in concert with the other sensory receptors of the body. The apostle Paul put it this way: Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:4-5 – NIV)

Two Are Better Than One

We already know that we need two eyes to see in three dimensions. One eye alone will not give us depth perception. Driving a car safely is much more difficult with only one eye. How soon do I have to slow down or stop to avoid hitting that car in front of me? Only depth perception helps me know for sure. Two eyes are better than one.

Amblyopia is a common vision problem. It is referred to as the lazy eye disease. The muscles in one eye are not as strong as those in the other. As a result, conflicting signals are sent to the brain providing false information and often fuzzy vision. The treatment for this problem is surprising. The doctor puts a patch on the good eye, in a sense blinding the good eye and forcing the lazy eye to work harder. The muscles of the lazy eye are then strengthened. After an appropriate period of time, the patch can be removed, the eyes will work well together, and the vision becomes true and accurate.

This vision healing process can be applied to married couples in which one is much stronger spiritually than the other. The natural inclination of the stronger Christian is to prod the weaker mate into some sort of spiritual activity, maybe leaving carefully selected literature around, or rushing off to Christian meetings and leaving the weaker mate at home because the weaker mate would be bored. In many cases, the best way to bring the weaker person along spiritually is to put a patch on the stronger mate, encouraging that stronger person to hold off and give the weaker mate a chance to become stronger and come alongside in spiritual growth. When the patch can finally be removed, the couple moves forward with new vision for their future together, both walking side by side, equally strengthened in the presence of the Lord, greatly improving their perception as a couple.

CHAPTER 3

THE EYES: THE LORD’S WAY OF SEEING

There is a basic rule here. The one who creates is greater than what he created. The one who creates can conceive of what he made. Because God created the wondrous eye, we can conclude first of all that He is greater than the eyes He created. That truth becomes even more exciting when we realize that God created the entire universe; and He is greater than all He brought into being. Because God has given us the gift of vision, we understand that God can obviously see as well. The psalmist puts it this way:

He who planted the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see? (Psalm 94:9 – NASB)

Because God is greater than we are, His vision is infinitely better than our sight. He is the omniscient God who sees and knows all things. In Hebrews 4:13, we read that all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (KJV). The apostle Peter, quoting Psalm 34, writes that "the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open