Can you recommend a good physician?
- Ann Pauloski
- Feb 21, 2008
- Series: Gospel Stories
I'd like to recommend a great doctor. I had been seeing this doctor occasionally for some time; mostly for check ups and the occasional infection. I'd make an appointment and he'd give me some pills and all would be well. But recently I contracted a serious infection that changed everything. I had to see my physician every week, go through many different tests and he'd even call me to let me know what was going on. I joked that we were dating. I hadn't known him that well before this sickness. Mostly I didn't care, I just wanted him to hand over a quick fix and I'd be on my way. But this illness required much more than that and he blew my expectations. He was with me the whole time, listening to my concerns and he didn't make me feel like an idiot or a drama queen.
The unfortunate truth about my sickness was that there wasn't a quick fix. He had lots of treatments for my symptoms to lessen some of the pain and discomfort but he couldn't wipe out the infection without the risk of my life. I would have to see him regularly, eat a lot, drink a lot, and rest a lot but he promised that I would get better. I originally thought his treatment plan (or lack thereof in my opinion) was lame. "What kind of prescription is it to just hang in there?" I reasoned that my doctor was out of his mind and surely not worth my time and sacrifice. So I didn't listen to him and tried to continue on with life as normal. "Normal life" lasted only a few days before I found myself needing emergency care to help me breathe. I got the point...for a few days. Then I'd ignore my doctor again and the cycle would continue. It took a long, long time for me to realize I wasn't going to get better anytime soon and my only hope was to listen to my doctor. But today I am healed and so I recommend to you my Great Physician. His name is Jesus Christ.
In the fall a lung infection called Valley Fever plagued me for four months. It literally reduced my life to resting, eating, drinking and going to the doctor. But that is only a part of what I just described. I also recommend to you My Great Physician who can and who will heal all of your heart sicknesses, relational wounds, and soul pains. He wants to treat you, He can treat you, and it's worth the cost.
In Mark 2:17, Jesus says, "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." We're all sick. Jesus is committed to making us whole, healing us, but I can promise you that His perfect treatment for your wound or illness is not what you think. It's not what I ever thought. Each one of us has deep wounds that our Great Physician wants to heal. According to this verse, Jesus says our healing is found in our repentance.
One of my deepest wounds occurred from a broken relationship during my senior year of college. This may sound trite, but the break up shattered me. Would all those who come so close to me leave too? I believed it. And why did God lead me into such terrible pain? How could I trust Him? I couldn't. So I tried to pretend I was healed when I wasn't. After months I collapsed into a depression requiring counseling and a doctor. I didn't smile for most of my senior year.
I finally came to the point where I crawled back to our Great Physician, begging for help. It became clear that if I wanted His help, I'd have to follow His directions. I mean, what's the point of going to a doctor and not listening to him? But what directions they were! He would have me join staff with The Navigators and move from Pennsylvania to San Diego, a land full of water and sun but also people that I didn't know who would no doubt hurt me. I was afraid and aching. I thought God was PUNISHING me, not healing me. I was bitter and confused.
But one day, a friend sat down with me and told me of her days as a nurse. She said, "When a severely wounded patient is sent home from the hospital, every day she needs to face the wound, remove the old bandages, clean out the bad stuff and let the good stuff in. Day to day the patient does this without any sign of healing. And it hurts every time. Taking off the dressing and cleaning out the wound burns. But over time the wound closes. All that's left is a scar as a sign of complete healing. "The pain is a sign that God is healing you, Ann." What?
Our problem with wounds and pain is that we think healing should be comfortable and immediate. "Can't I be cured with a 10-day prescription?" God says, "No, I'm sorry, your wound, your illness is much more serious than that. You may find a quicker way to stop the pain, but if you close that wound before it's cleaned out, you're going to lose part of your heart. An infection will spread that will take your life." I understood this in a whole new way with my lung infection in the fall. The doctor couldn't wipe out the fungus because the treatment was too awful and threatened my life.
We seem to understand painful treatments as necessity in the physical realm but not in the spiritual. We'll pour peroxide on our own wounds or our children's. In fact, we'll actually pay someone to knock us out, cut us open, mess around in our bodies then put us through terrible medicines and therapy for months following the operation. We do this to improve our quality of life or to even save our lives. We trust these human doctors yet we are so reluctant to let our Good Physician heal us.
You see, I needed Jesus to clean out the wound from my break up. I wanted it to scab over and stop hurting. I tried to run away. But He kept ripping it off and daily pouring in a burning dose of peroxide to stop the deep infection. And you know what happened? Over time, I started to face this re-dressing with hope knowing that one day I'd be healed. I began to find rest in His promises, nourishment from His Word, and satisfaction from His well of living water. And you know what? Three years later I am healed, with just a simple scar to remind me of His faithfulness.
Dear friends, Jesus wants to heal you. It is God's desperate cry that you would let Him heal you. How many times does Jesus reject someone's request for healing in the New Testament? None that I can find. None. He heals everyone who comes to Him and asks. He even heals people who don't ask for it!
We are not very good doctors. We are not good at diagnosing or treating illnesses. Sometimes we don't even see the symptoms. Then once we realize there's a problem, we often don't like the solution, so we refuse treatment. I will say it again that there is not one instance of Jesus refusing someone's request for healing. My heart is healed in this area. It happened. I'm not hoping for it anymore. It can happen for you. Do you know this Physician that I speak of? Have you seen Him before? Go, see Him regularly, take His treatment whatever the time and cost, and believe Him. Trust Him. Knowing about a good doctor and his practices will not heal you. Knowing facts and big doctrines and just going to church is not going to heal you. You must see this Doctor for yourself. Regularly. And when He says to rest, learn His promises and His character and rest in them. And when He says to drink a lot, leave your thirst behind and drink from the well of Living Water, the Holy Spirit, and the Presence of God. And when He says to eat well, satisfy yourself on His Word, His bread, His manna. Then when a severe wounding or sickness comes, you'll know His ways and trust Him so much more.
If we don't know Jesus as our Great Physician, then what do we know? What do we even have to offer this sick and dying world? The people of San Diego need to see the Doctor at work around them. And if you don't go to Him yourself, why will they? I want you to know the soul healing of Jesus Christ. Through pain, worse pain, and long periods of no improvements. Jesus is our Great Physician. He is willing to heal. He is able to heal. Go and be healed.
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Anonymous on Feb 28, 2008 7:34pm
Praise God for the way He works in and through you, Ann. It's simply captivating.
Eugene Kim on Feb 29, 2008 1:33pm
What? You mean I can't just do the Prayer of Jabez or read a book for 40 DAYS and get fixed? Thanks for this Ann, what a great picture of Gospel renewal. The way you relate the way you treated your doctor rings so true with how so many of us treat the God we thought we knew growing up in Sunday school, someone to goto when we need a quick fix. Its not until we are shown our deep need that we see the depth of His love and complete sufficiency.