This verse reminds us that God knows not only our hearts and thoughts, but everything else about us as well. How many hairs do you think you have? You probably have about 100,000 although each of us does not have the same number. Blond people usually have more, and redheads have less.
If you could look at a strand of hair under a strong microscope, it would look like a tightly packed tiny rope covered with fish-like scales. A cross section of the hair would show two layers surrounding a central core. The outside layer is called the cuticle. The second layer, making up 85% of the thickness, is called the cortex and is made up of the cells that provide color and sheen. The inner core is called the medulla. The whole hair structure that we see is called the shaft.
This shaft starts to grow in a bulb-like growth, known as a follicle, just underneath the skin of the scalp. The bottom part of the follicle holds the papilla which contains an artery that nourishes the root of the hair.
As the shaft grows it pushes upward. It is made up of dead cells which are forced up as new, living cells are formed in the follicle. In about ten weeks an inch of this hair appears, and in an average lifetime about 25 feet of hair will have grown. Even though it is dead, each shaft (strand) keeps its shape and luster and is helped in this by an oily lubricant secreted by the follicle.
Nutritious food helps your hair, but worry, stress and strain hurt it and may cause some hair loss. It is quite normal to lose as many as 75 to 100 hairs a day. They have served their purpose, and the follicles will send out new replacements.
Analysis of hair can show whether the body is getting the right amount of minerals, such as iron, copper, chromium, zinc, etc., which God has wisely provided in certain foods. Laboratory tests show how much of each mineral is present, although, because of the hair’s slow growth only the condition of a few months back will be revealed. Aside from this, most medical authorities question whether any disease can be determined through the hair.
How about baldness? Basically it, as well as graying, is the result of aging. But hair does not turn white (called gray) overnight as some claim. High fever, drugs or serious illness may cause baldness, but most bald people inherit the tendency from their parents, and there is no way to help this.
Now, how about straight or curly hair? Round strands make straight locks; oval strands become wavy; flat strands make kinky hair. But there are many variations of this as well.
Like all parts of the body, the hair that adorns our heads is one more wonderful work of God’s creation. Incidentally, the Bible approves of long hair for a girl or a woman, but speaks of long hair on a boy or a man as “a shame unto him.” 1 Corinthians 11:14,1514Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. (1 Corinthians 11:14‑15). It’s something to think about if we wish to please the Lord, don’t you agree? A good verse to remember is, “Them that honor Me I will honor.” 1 Samuel 2:3030Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. (1 Samuel 2:30).
ML-09/11/1983