Nature’s Purifiers

Scripture References: Psalm 90:3, 10; Luke 1:13; 2:36-37

They lie on each side of the spinal column, at the back just above the waist. Shaped like the bean named after them, they cleanse the blood of poisons, regulate blood volume, recycle water, minerals, and nutrients and adjust the body’s chemical compounds. They are the kidneys—less than five inches long and three inches wide, each weighs about five ounces. Every minute they filter a quart of blood. Each day they receive and pass two hundred quarts of fluid through their millions of nephrons. They filter the blood, reabsorb water, and produce urine to carry off wastes.

When the kidneys don’t function, we die. If they function below par, the person has to undergo hemodialysis, the process whereby an artificial kidney cleanses the blood. In kidney transplants, the organ’s sensitivity demands the closest possible match in tissue and blood type, usually from a relative. Since the body’s immune system viciously attacks a transplanted kidney as an unwanted intruder, drugs to block the immune system must be taken for months or years. Despite the constant stress of possible rejection, kidney transplant patients can anticipate an 87 percent survival rate for three years.

Three thousand years ago the psalmist exclaimed, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Just now, at the end of the twentieth century, we are even more in awe of the Scriptures and the body they describe. Since we live in a body of exquisite design, shouldn’t we each be interested in getting acquainted with the Designer?

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved.