Article November 12, 1982 Issue

Back to the simple life

BRYAN G. POPE

There is something deep in the heart of mechanized, computerized, media-pulverized modern man that makes many say, "I wish I could just get away from it all—go back to the simple life."

It may seem at first glance that no one could have been further "away from it all" than the patriarchs of the Old Testament. But perhaps their lives were not as simple as they seemed. These people had problems with violent neighbors and sometimes committed unwise or harsh acts themselves. But their simple, everyday occupation—tending stock, keeping sheep—meant they were near to nature. They had time to contemplate its wonders, time to realize that somehow, behind it all, there could only be one great cause. They did not know all the answers to the many questions they must have asked, but in humble prayer to the creator of all, they listened for, and heard, harmonies far beyond the limited capacities of the human ear.

Sometimes those early thinkers, as the Bible tells us, actually spoke with God, that eternal, infinite Spirit, who, as Paul put it, makes "foolish the wisdom of this world."^{I Cor. 1:20.} In perplexing and dangerous situations they often received immediate and clear guidance as to what to do and how to do it. Paradoxically, they got away from it all by realizing the ever-presence of God and something of man's tender, spiritual relationship to Him.