GOD’S WORD FOR AUGUST 12 ~ ~ Philippians 4:18~ ~ “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things [which were sent] from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.”

It’s commonly known that many animals are able to detect extraordinarily weak odors. The real mystery is how they can smell scents that are 1,000 times too weak to produce the chemical reactions necessary to make a scent signal.

From the chemist’s point of view, our sense of smell shouldn’t work as well as it does. When you smelled that wonderful dinner a few days ago, a marvel of chemical reactions was taking place in your nose. Scientists still aren’t sure how we sense such a wide range of smells. It was while investigating this question that scientists may have stumbled across the answer to another question.

The receptors in our noses have to detect a certain number of scent molecules before they can trigger the chemical response that makes the signal that tells us we have smelled something. When air is drawn into your nose, an organ called Steno’s duct sprays a fine mist. Scientists always thought this mist simply humidified the incoming air. Now they’ve discovered that the duct also makes proteins that grab onto odor molecules. Sprayed into the incoming air, the proteins collect odor molecules. Then, with their load of odor molecules, they settle onto receptors that trigger your sense of smell. As a result, even scents that are too weak to smell are concentrated by this ingenious system so that we can sense them.

Our sense of smell helps protect us, gives our food flavor, and adds richness to the experience of eating.

There are many verses about God smelling things. He smelled offerings many times, as He did at Noah’s first offering when they came out of the Ark:

Genesis 8:21 ~ ~  And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake;…”

2 Corinthians 2:15 ~ ~ “ For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.”

It’s amazing to me that people can know the amazing ways that animal and human bodies work, and still deny the existence of God and His Word.

Published by liveinthelightofourlord

View all posts by liveinthelightofourlord