The Original Organization Man

Psalm 139:19-24

19O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!

Get out of my life, you murderers!

20They blaspheme you;

your enemies take your name in vain.

21O LORD, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

Shouldn’t I despise those who resist you?

22Yes, I hate them with complete hatred,

for your enemies are my enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my thoughts.

24Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Carolus Linnaeus was an organized man. He believed that everything had its place, and that was where it should be put. He did his work so well that he is now regarded as “the father of systematic botany.” Some have termed him the greatest botanist that ever lived.

Born in Sweden in the eighteenth century, he almost went into the ministry but chose medical studies instead. One of his first jobs, however, was working for a professor of theology who was compiling a treatise on plants in the Bible.

Soon Linnaeus was organizing plants and animals into groups and subgroups. Every known plant and animal was identified by a genus and a species. Today scientists date his Species Plantarum and Systema Naturae as the works that started the modern plant and animal classification system.

Linnaeus was awarded honors, medals, and titles, but he always remembered that God was the Creator and that he was God’s creation. Everyone who came to hear Linnaeus (and many came from all over the world) saw an inscription over the door of his lecture hall. It was in Latin, just as all his botanical terms were, and it said: Live with Purity; God Is Here.

That is what David said, too, in Psalm 139. And even if you’re not as organized as Carolus Linnaeus, it’s a pretty good way to approach each day.

Lord, we thy presence seek;

May ours this blessing be;

Give us a pure and lowly heart,

A temple meet for thee.

JOHN KEBLE

Bible Networking

Read Matthew 5:38-48 and Romans 12:17-21. What did Jesus and Paul say our attitude should be to our enemies?

Notable Quotable

“We may be grieving our blessed Lord more than we know; substituting an ideal religious standard or absorption in his work for that direct personal fellowship with Himself.”

F. B. MEYER