"I feel as if my stomach revolts inside me every time I think about what my husband is doing with the other woman. I can not stand it". This is how the lady who had asked me for counseling in the midst of her marital crisis expressed herself.
One might ask: Do you feel your feelings in your mind, your heart, your brain or your bowels?
Wonder of God
We know the great wonder that God has given us with the brain.
There is nothing as complex as the human brain. It is estimated that we have a hundred billion neurons or brain cells. And each neuron is connected to other neurons by more than forty thousand individual connections. Imagine, a hundred billion and each neuron is connected to each other by lots of connections, forty thousand individual connections, it means that we almost have thirteen trillions of connections in our brain.
Although the brain is only 2% of the weight of your body, but uses 25 to 20% of the calories you consume. In other words, the brain is the largest consumer of energy. That means that the third part of your breakfast, lunch and dinner is feeding directly to the brain.
Undercity or Brain
The Bible suddenly seems to move things that should be in the brain to the bowels ?. Why Genesis 43:30 speaks of the confusion that Joseph experienced with his brothers when receiving news of his family? The Bible says like this:
"Then Joseph hastened, because his bowels were moved by his brother, and he sought where to weep; and entered his chamber, and wept there. "
The Bible as the Word of God is never wrong today science is already talking about the bowels as the second brain.
Leopold Auerbach, a German neurologist, discovered in the nineteenth century two layers of nerve cells very close to a piece of intestine that was dissecting. He was curious and seeing them under a microscope he concluded that they were part of a complex network. However, he was the first to observe the "Second Brain" that was described in 1998.
The Bible Is Clara
Again the Word of God described the feeling of a woman who was moved when Solomon wanted to leave his child to resolve the dispute between two women who claimed to be the mother:
"Then the woman whose son was alive, spoke to the king (because his bowels were moved by his son), and said: Ah, my lord! Give this child the living child, and do not kill him. But the other said: Neither me nor you; split it. " 1 Kings 3:26
The passage here describes that the bowels of the true mother were moved.
There are about 100 million neurons located in the walls of the intestinal tube. This neural network does not elaborate thoughts like the brain but it does influence mood and even sleep.
Butterflies in the stomach
When faced with a stressful situation, it is common to feel like butterflies in the stomach. The digestive system is upholstered by a network of neurons (nerve cells) of such high range that some scientists already talk about the stomach or the entrails as the "second brain".
Job in the midst of the turmoil of his life and the unexpected losses in his existence exclaimed:
"My insides are agitated, and they do not rest; Days of affliction have overwhelmed me. " Job 30:27
According to scientific studies, this second brain influences our mood, character and even the rhythm of sleep.
Michael Gershon, Researcher at Columbia University in the United States and author of the book The Second Brain, explains that the second brain (The bowels) that we have works in connection with the big one, that of the skull, and partly determines our mental state and has a key role in certain diseases that affect other parts of the body.
Neurons in the Digestive System
In addition to neurons, all types of neurotransmitters that exist in the brain are present in the digestive system. 95% of serotonin, one of the most important neurotransmitters in the body, is found in the intestine.
When we talk about the bowels or the stomach as a "second brain" we need to clarify that this brain is not the seat of conscious thoughts or decision-making.
The Psalmist expounding prophetically what our Savior would experience on Calvary said:
"I have been poured out like waters, and all my bones are out of joint; My heart was like wax, melting in my heart. " Psalm 22:14.
Nerves In The Intestines.
Emeran Mayer, Professor of Physiology, Psychiatry and Bio-Behavior Sciences at the University of California said that much of our emotions are likely to be influenced by the "nerves of the intestines." Professor Mayer also states that daily emotional well-being may also depend on messages that the intestinal brain sends to the brain in the skull.
"My bowels will also rejoice when your lips speak righteous things." Proverbs 23:16
When we see all this we say ... What a joy it is to know that the Bible spoke of it long before science discovered it.
Dr. Gershon says: The enteric nervous system speaks to the brain and it responds to it. The bowel can affect the mood and stimulation of the main nerve (the vagus) that connects the brain to the intestine and can help relieve depression.
The prophet Jeremiah threw his lament into the air when he said:
My entrails, my insides! My heart's fibers ache; my heart is stirred inside me; I will not shut up; for you have heard the sound of a trumpet, O my soul, a proclamation of war. Jeremiah 4:19.
The Supreme Creator
God is the supreme creator and has made our body a wonderful piece of connections.
"My eyes fainted with tears, my bowels were shaken, My liver was spilled on the ground because of the brokenness of the daughter of my people, When the child and the suckling child fainted, in the squares of the city." Lamentations 2:11.
That is why the peace that God brings to our life comes first in our first brain (the one in the skull) is transmitted to the second brain (that of the entrails) and floods our heart and our spirit.
Look at this promise of God:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an end that you hope for." Jeremiah 29:11
Peace ... Sweet Peace
Let those thoughts of peace touch your first and your second brain.
"Behold, I will bring you healing and medicine; and I will cure them, and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. " Jeremiah 33: 6
And the Divine Master gives your peace to your brain and your bowels.
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you; I do not give it to you as the world gives it. Not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid". John 14:27.
Rest in it ... and let it fill you with an abundance of peace.