doctor's life support

7th October: God and the Physician

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe; yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord but sought help from the physicians. 2 Chronicles 16:12

King Asa was one of the good kings of the southern kingdom of Judah. He began his reign by doing what was good and right in the sight of the Lord. He listened to Azariah, the Spirit-filled prophet, as he gave God's message to him, and in reliance on the Lord won a great victory. But, as he grew older, his faith grew less. When his enemies threatened him, he sought the military help of the king of Syria against them. Once again the Lord sent a prophet to him, Hanani the seer, and he rebuked the king for his foolishness. Asa was very angry and had the Lord's messenger thrown into prison.

Three years later disease began in his feet, and within two years he died. He did not seek the Lord's help, but rather turned to the physicians. These physicians were men of a different type from the modern physician. Their knowledge was a strange mixture of observation and superstition. They had none of the modern diagnostic aids at their disposal. They could not say whether the ageing king was suffering from diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, gout or some severe form of osteo-arthritis, and they had no scientific basis for their treatment. But the modern Christian physician should remember that, with all his or her scientific knowledge, there is still the need to seek the Lord for his wisdom and grace day by day. Have YOU done so today?

Lord, I thank you for all the diagnostic tools at my disposal:
for X-rays, microscopes and all the other aids I have. Help me
never to forget that, day by day and hour by hour, I still need
your wisdom and your grace in my dealings with people. May I
never, as Asa did, stop relying on you.

Further reading: 2 Chronicles 16.

JWMcM