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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for December 22, 2009
“God Said Subdue the Earth”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
He was talking about the 1930’s.
We were driving along in his old pickup truck on a cold winter’s day.
We topped a hill and the view was fantastic. Everything was covered with snow, the sun was brilliant, and you could see for miles.
Down in the valley was a small city. He said, “It didn’t look like this when I was growing up.”
“What’s different?” I said.
“Well in the winter the sky would be black from all the coal burning. That’s how people kept warm, by burning coal.”
It was hard to imagine on such a clear, beautiful day. And if the sky was black from coal burning, just think of the soot and ash that would be all over everything. And everybody.
I was so glad that we had found better ways to stay warm.
I say “we,” but I had nothing to do with it. Someone found better ways, and I guess people will continue to find better ways.
And you know what? I think we are called by God to do so.
Think of Florida a hundred years ago. It wasn’t such a popular place to live because it was so hot. But after World War II, as air conditioning became more ubiquitous, the population grew from about 20th in the nation to fourth.
I’m glad we found a good way to stay cool.
Lately I’ve heard about several babies who were born with health issues, but the doctors were able to do surgery and fix whatever was wrong.
You know, back in the day those kids would have just died. The infant mortality rate was much higher. And the mortality rate of mothers giving birth was higher. How many times, as I read about history, have I read about someone’s wife dying in childbirth? Now, in all my life, I have not personally known any woman who died from giving birth.
The difference is that we know more. We have discovered better ways, and I think that’s what God has called us to do.
I’m getting that from Genesis 1:28. God made Adam and Eve, blessed them, then said this to them. “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it…”
Subdue the earth. That’s what God wants us to do.
I look at it like this. God created this planet full of ingredients; full of plants and animals and land and water. But it’s wild. It’s unruly, and that’s where we come in. We are to subdue the earth, to get it under control, to manage it.
I feel so blessed to live in a land that enjoys years of subduing. I’m sitting in a structure made of modern building materials, well insulated from all kinds of weather. I got here on nice roads with beautiful landscaping inside the incredible invention of the automobile.
Clothing is plentiful and colorful and cheap. Food is abundant.
And all this comes back to subduing the earth. Instead of letting it remain in its wild, unruly state, we are to subdue it.
Now subdue doesn’t mean destroy or pollute. It means get it under control, take the disorderly and make it orderly.
Take water, for example. In Tallahassee we have clean water for hundreds of thousands of people. That sure didn’t happen by all of us gathering around a creek and scooping out water. It happened by us taking the wild, natural water supplies and subduing them, getting them under control.
That may not sound like a Godly thing, but I think it is. It goes back to that original mandate from God to subdue the earth.
I recently read about new breakthroughs in battery technology. They are coming up with ways to make batteries more powerful and last a lot longer. And get this. They’re making them out of paper. A special paper, of course, lined with carbon nanotubes, whatever those are. But just think of the possibilities if you can make a battery the size and thickness of a postage stamp.
And there are millions of new things to be thought of, a million new ways to subdue the earth.
For some reason, subduing the earth sounds bad, like plundering the earth or treating it like a slave to be beaten and left for dead.
That’s not it at all. God has called us to subdue the earth, which means to manage it and get it under control – for the good of everyone. And for the glory of God.
So yes, we are called to subdue the earth, and we will do that, more and more.
So now the question is this. What role will you play in following God’s mandate to subdue the earth?
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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