Subdue and Rule

Journal 2005 11 06
Subdue and Rule

“we came too to Dine on the long narrow Island found the woods So thick with under groth that the hunters could not get any distance into the Isld. the red wood, and Green bryors interwoven, and mixed with pine, alder, a Specis of Beech [Berch?], ash &c. we killed nothing to day The Indians leave us in the evening, river about one mile wide hills high and Steep on the Std. no place for several Miles suffcently large and leavil for our camp we at length Landed at a place which by moveing the Stones we made a place Sufficently large for the party to lie leavil on the Smaller Stones Clear of the Tide
Cloudy with rain all day we are all wet and disagreeable, had large fires made on the Stone and dried our bedding and Kill the flees, which collected in our blankets at every old village we encamped near”

William Clark’s is still the primary recorder for history. We won’t hear from Meriwether Lewis until New Year’s Day 1806. Several of the enlisted men kept journals. Theirs typically include almost abbreviated versions of the Captains. Today Clark records much more detail than any of the other men.

I’m struck by several things in today’s record. Clark finds, as he did yesterday, the weather “wet and disagreeable.” They did overcome several Indians traveling downriver hoping to trade with a Mr. Haley. (The best historical records show that Captain Samuel Hill had sailed the Lydia up the Columbia in April of this year and would return again in April or July after the men had departed for home.) The Indians are not nearly as enamored with the white men as they were earlier on the journey and the Corps part company and camp just downstream from the mouth of the Cowlitz River near Longview, WA.

They were unable to kill any meat and ate more of the roots and salmon obtained earlier via trade. Have you ever tried to negotiate the jungle-like tangle of nasty brush and vines that grow on low wet ground in the Northwest? These great wilderness travelers could not penetrate it with any greater degree of success than we can today. I like D8’s, track-hoes, chain saws and brush hooks if you must attack these jungles. I believe these men would see the natural barriers much differently than we would today. If they had access to the big bulldozers, power tools and even hand tools we’ve developed they would never hesitate to conquer the world around them and “civilize it.”

I thought I might talk about camping on a rocky place with fleas like they did this night. But conquering the natural world is not one we understand well today. Our cultural mindset is to preserve nature. Yesterday I spoke of turning from worshipping the Creator to worshipping the creation. Jehovah God, the Creator, gave a command to rule and subdue. Sounds like conquering to me. None of us purposefully lives on land that is overcome by blackberry bushes and uncontrolled growth. Good stewardship requires us to cut back and restrict uncontrolled growth. Many times we must remove the natural dangers that threaten our living on the land. If a tree could fall and damage our home we are prudent if we remove it. Insurance companies would claim negligence if we were to knowingly leave a rotten dangerous tree in a position to damage our dwelling.

Are we ruling and subduing, with good stewardship, as commanded by God when he created man? It is easy to check your home. Look around for ivy and vines trying to overwhelm it. Cut them off and remove them. The same holds for your spiritual life. Are you being overwhelmed by circumstances and happenings? It is a sign that the enemies of God are attempting to overwhelm you. Cut them off and remove them.

“And God created the man in His own image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the seas, and over birds of the heavens, and over all beasts creeping on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant seeding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; it shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth, and to all birds of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul, every green plant is for food. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:27-30)

His first command is to bear fruit, multiply, fill the earth and subdue and rule over it. Not popular today, but still true. Cut off anything that is attempting to entangle you and keep you from your God-given destiny.