The Healing of the Great Physician

The Stranded Man

When I was a child, my father told me a story about a man who lived in a house that was being flooded by a river that had swollen over its banks.  The story goes something like this:

A man lived in a community that was situated close to a river, and on this day, the river had risen above the riverbanks, and was beginning to flood the little town.  Most people had evacuated already, but this man stayed in his house, telling everyone that God would look after him.

The river continued to rise, and as it got to the front door, a rescue team dressed in hip waders was going door to door, and they told the man who had stayed behind that they had come to evacuate everyone left.  The man refused, saying that he had faith that God would keep him safe.  So the rescue team went on their way, unable to convince him to change his mind.

The river continued to rise, and the man was forced to abandon the ground floor, and headed to the second floor where he watched the rising waters, keeping faith that God would indeed save him.  As he was watching out the window, a rescue boat came through the town, motoring through the streets that were now well flooded.  They saw the man in the window, and called out for him to come and get in their boat, and they would take him to safety.  The man replied that he had no need of a rescue, because God would keep him safe.  Once again, the rescue team left man to his own devices.

The water continued to rise, and the man was finally forced up onto the roof of his house, the last dry place where he could take refuge.  A helicopter spotted him on the roof of his house, and lowered a basket for him to get into and be brought up to the helicopter and to safety.  Once more, the man refused to let anyone give him aid, firmly believing that God would save him against all odds. 

The water rose even further, and the man was washed off the roof of his house, and he drowned.  When he came before God in heaven, he asked Him, “God, I prayed to you to save me.  I don’t understand why you let me die.”

God answered him, “My son.  I answered your prayers three times.  First I sent a rescue team on foot.  Next I sent a boat.  Finally, I sent you a helicopter.  Each time, you refused my answer to your prayers.”

What Happens to the Stranded

A Christian may sometimes refuse medicine on the basis of faith in God, believing that they don’t need human drugs/interventions to heal them.  A secular individual will do exactly the same thing, but refuse medicine on the basis of faith in themselves, believing that doctors can’t help, hospitals only make you sicker.  They believe they can figure out an answer or simply live with their suffering.

Let me give you an example of one such patient.  I once had a patient who came to the emergency room with some shortness of breath.  For a lady in her mid-sixties, she was remarkably healthy, and on no medications – or so I thought.  There are two types of people in their mid-sixties who don’t take any medications: those that are remarkably healthy, and those that just don’t visit their doctor.

This lovely woman was complaining of some shortness of breath, which had limited her ability to be mobile since she couldn’t get to the top of a flight of stairs without being very winded.  So I started to ask questions, and it seemed like a straightforward case of congestive heart failure (CHF). I could hear fluid at the bases of her lungs, her legs were swollen and I could leave my fingerprints in her legs.  Her JVP was visible at the angle of her jaw when she was sitting upright.  (Don’t worry if you don’t know what JVP is, it doesn’t make much difference to the story!)  So I thought I’d give her some medicine to make her urinate to get rid of some of the extra fluid.  However, part of the investigation is finding out why the patient has CHF.

I did an EKG that showed remarkable ST depressions, which in the absence of chest pain, and a troponin (an enzyme we use to check for heart damage) of less than 0.01, pointed toward a heart that was starving for oxygen, and working very hard.  Alright, further down the rabbit hole, why did her EKG look like this?

The remainder of her blood work showed this woman to be a very sick individual.  She had only about 1/3 the amount of hemoglobin that she should have had normally, which was starving her heart of oxygen, which was in turn making her short of breath. 

This woman turned out to have bowel cancer.

The astounding thing was that she had been suffering for over a year with symptoms that no person should just accept as part of their life.  She had been unable to lie flat on her back for a year, due to the overwhelming shortness of breath, and to go along with that, something called Paroxysmal Nocturnal Dyspnea (PND).  Essentially, waking up in the middle of the night with the sensation of being unable to breathe, as if you were smothering.  So this delightful woman chose to sleep in a chair, upright, for a year, rather than visit her doctor.  Her bowels were also causing her grief, and instead of seeing a real doctor, she just consulted Dr. Google and Dr. Wikipedia.  (Neither of these “doctors” have a medical license, by the way.)  She diagnosed herself first with lactose intolerance, so she cut out milk from her diet.  Then when that didn’t help, thought maybe it was celiac disease, so she eliminated wheat products.  That didn’t work either, so she became a vegetarian.  Unfortunately, she combined all these things, and just made herself malnourished to go along with everything else.

I watched this woman cry, with tears in my own eyes, as she told me the story of her suffering over the past year.  It is a difficult enough story, without also knowing that her suffering was for the most part unnecessary.  When I asked her why she didn’t come to see somebody earlier than this, she simply sobbed, “I don’t know.”

God’s Saving Answer

Just like the stranded man who refused a rescue party, a boat and a helicopter in favor of his faith, some people refuse modern medicine in the same way.  This is not to say that God doesn’t perform miracles of healing, but more often than not, God refers us to the medical system that he has so graciously given us, just as he sent men on foot to rescue the stranded man. 

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””  (Matthew 9:10-13)

Jesus himself made it clear that sick individuals need a doctor, just as sinners need Him.  We live in a broken world, a world that unfortunately is plagued by so many diseases that most medical students at some point have to realize that despite the size of their textbooks, people actually do make it to adulthood. 

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing (emphasis mine) by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” (1 Corinthians 9:4-11)

The power of modern medicine is given to us by the Spirit, and the gift of healing does not need to look like Jesus’ healing, simply by laying hands on a person, or simpler yet, having the person touch Jesus’ robes.  We should try to be like Jesus, but we are not, and cannot be, Jesus.  We cannot all look at a crippled man and say, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” (Mark 2:11)  I’m not saying that this is impossible, but for the most part we work within the constraints of the physical world that God has created, and that means medicine.

As the bible states, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)  It also says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) 

We should all follow God’s instructions, and do our best to take care of ourselves, to honor God with our bodies and recognize that our bodies are God’s house.  We should strive to follow medical advice, though there is nothing wrong with being critical of the evidence that is currently available.  That being said, it is reasonably clear that a healthy diet, exercise and a regular medical check-up are worth doing.  And of course, don’t smoke, follow the bible’s instructions on the consumption of alcohol, and stay away from random plants and chemicals that one might consume for recreation. 

One last thing – I have had patients whose families have blamed the patient for their own sickness.  One gentleman accused his wife of being sick because she didn’t pray enough.  If you agree with him, you need to read your bible more often.  As a starting point, go to the book of Job, and you’ll find that despite the fact that God himself said of Job “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil,” (Job 1:8), he was still afflicted with terrible circumstances, including “painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.” (Job 2:7)  It is possible to be a follower of Jesus, or a biblical hero that God Himself praises for his conduct, and be afflicted by disease.  Pray, yes.  But don’t think that you or your loved one has become sick because the relationship they or you have with God is somehow not strong enough.  Since the Garden of Eden, the world is a broken place, and people become sick.  The last thing a sick person needs is an accusation like this from someone close to them. 

Treat your body like a temple of God; look after yourself, and seek medicine when you’re not well.  We are complex, multidimensional creatures, with physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs.  None of us can afford to neglect any aspect of our overall well-being, and while it seems obvious to many, that includes the physical body God has created for us.  David Martin Lloyd Jones (who was a physician before becoming a preacher), when preaching about Psalm 42 said, “Does anyone hold the view that as long as you’re a Christian, it doesn’t matter what the condition of your body is?  You’ll soon be disillusioned if you believe that.  There are some in whose cases it is clear to me that the cause of their depression is mainly physical.  On the other hand, people who are physically weak are more prone to attacks of spiritual discouragement and depression.  But if you recognize that the physical may be partly responsible for the spiritual condition and make allowances for this, you’ll be better able to deal with the spiritual issues.”  (I actually got this quote from a sermon by Timothy Keller, entitled “Finding God.”)  Recognize that God has given us a body that needs taking care of, and realize that God has given us the gift of medical care.  When you pray for healing, modern medical care might just be the answer he’s given to your prayer.