Did you ever hear someone say, “We can’t picnic on that beach; it’s covered with seaweed,” or, “There’s a good fishing spot, but it’s got too much seaweed,” or, “Don’t swim there; you’ll get caught in seaweed”? Seashore visitors find such statements common. Yet the good things about these rather unpleasant plants outweigh the problems, and their part in the ocean is in accordance with the Creator’s plans when He made the world with many seas.
There are many kinds of seaweed. The most common is the brown kelp. This is a giant species, which in Pacific coast waters grows as tall as a 20-story building. Another is known as rockweed. Dulse comes in several red-brown varieties. One drifting around the Sargasso Sea in great masses is called sargassum. Millions of small eels that are born each year live in this variety.
Seaweed can be a problem to someone cruising offshore when it gets tangled in his outboard motor. But it is very welcome to a sea otter, attaching itself to a strand to keep from drifting while napping or to a fish escaping from a shark.
The beginning Bible verse refers to all created things, including seaweed, which, in one way or another, are beneficial to mankind if used properly. Did you know that thousands of tons of seaweed are harvested and sold for millions of dollars every year? It is used by a variety of industries, as well as being a healthful food for people in many countries.
Seaweed is often an unseen, but important, part of glass, soap, vitamin pills and important medicines. Your toothpaste probably has some in it, as well as the pudding and pie your mother makes from store-bought packages. Shaving cream, cosmetics and paint, as well as chocolate goodies, ice cream, some candies and a long list of other products have seaweed as one of their ingredients.
Next time you visit the seashore and see whip-like or fan-shaped pieces of seaweed washed ashore, think how the Lord God has made this lowly sea plant a part of His benefits to mankind, and then thank Him for it.
Seaweed nourishes our bodies, but it is even more important to accept the spiritual food God provides through His Word, the Bible. In it He invites you to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” and He promises, “Blessed is the man that [trusts] in Him” (Psalm 35:88Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. (Psalm 35:8)). A man who did so exclaimed, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jeremiah 15:1616Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)).
If you have not received this joy in your heart, read the Bible and find the meaning of “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
ML-02/01/2009