Approximately forty-eight hours after we returned home from our recent trip to Israel and Jordan, I came down with some sort of severe illness. Not being an authority in medical affairs, I can only describe it as the “stomach flu”.
Now, I do not get sick very often. What is more, I am the sort of person who, when well, cannot really remember what it is like to be sick. Conversely, however, when I am sick as I have been this past week, I find it hard to remember whenever I was feeling well.
In any event, four days later, by mid-week, my wife and I both realized that I was not going to get any better by treating myself with over the counter products. As a result, my wife made an appointment with our family doctor and took me in to see him.
After a succession of questions, exceeded only by the number of tests he administered, he reached a conclusion, gave me his diagnosis, and prescribed some appropriate medication. As he did so, he made this statement: “Go home, take the medicine I am prescribing for you, and then go to sleep. When you wake up in a few hours, you will already feel like a whole new man!”
I am happy to report that I did exactly as he directed; and as a result, everything he said proved to be true! After just a day or two on the medication he prescribed, I already feel like a whole new person!
As I have reflected on this episode, I have been reminded of another place we visited while in the Holy Land. In the Biblical village of Bethany, on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives, about 1.5 miles east of Jerusalem, sits the tomb of a man named Lazarus.
The eleventh chapter of the New Testament Gospel of John records the story of how this young man named Lazarus became sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent for the Divine Physician, Jesus. But by the time Jesus arrived, four days had passed, and Lazarus had died.
Nonetheless, in response to the faith of Lazarus’ sisters, Jesus raised him from the dead. And when Jesus called him forth from the grave, Lazarus came up out of the grave a whole new man, with a whole new sense of well-being, and a whole new lease on life!
Granted, I did not face anything at all this past week compared to what Lazarus faced. All I went through this past week was the flu, not death itself. Nonetheless, I believe that the same God who took care of Lazarus so long ago is still taking care of me today. And if He can handle death, then He can surely handle sickness. And if He can handle sickness, then He can also surely handle the multitude of other, smaller problems I face as well.
What about you? What have you faced this week? No matter what you are currently up against, I hope you have learned to give it to the Lord and let Him handle it for you. It may take a little time (it took four days before Lazarus was resurrected and it took four days before I started feeling better); but in the end, God will take care of His own!
Now, I do not get sick very often. What is more, I am the sort of person who, when well, cannot really remember what it is like to be sick. Conversely, however, when I am sick as I have been this past week, I find it hard to remember whenever I was feeling well.
In any event, four days later, by mid-week, my wife and I both realized that I was not going to get any better by treating myself with over the counter products. As a result, my wife made an appointment with our family doctor and took me in to see him.
After a succession of questions, exceeded only by the number of tests he administered, he reached a conclusion, gave me his diagnosis, and prescribed some appropriate medication. As he did so, he made this statement: “Go home, take the medicine I am prescribing for you, and then go to sleep. When you wake up in a few hours, you will already feel like a whole new man!”
I am happy to report that I did exactly as he directed; and as a result, everything he said proved to be true! After just a day or two on the medication he prescribed, I already feel like a whole new person!
As I have reflected on this episode, I have been reminded of another place we visited while in the Holy Land. In the Biblical village of Bethany, on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives, about 1.5 miles east of Jerusalem, sits the tomb of a man named Lazarus.
The eleventh chapter of the New Testament Gospel of John records the story of how this young man named Lazarus became sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent for the Divine Physician, Jesus. But by the time Jesus arrived, four days had passed, and Lazarus had died.
Nonetheless, in response to the faith of Lazarus’ sisters, Jesus raised him from the dead. And when Jesus called him forth from the grave, Lazarus came up out of the grave a whole new man, with a whole new sense of well-being, and a whole new lease on life!
Granted, I did not face anything at all this past week compared to what Lazarus faced. All I went through this past week was the flu, not death itself. Nonetheless, I believe that the same God who took care of Lazarus so long ago is still taking care of me today. And if He can handle death, then He can surely handle sickness. And if He can handle sickness, then He can also surely handle the multitude of other, smaller problems I face as well.
What about you? What have you faced this week? No matter what you are currently up against, I hope you have learned to give it to the Lord and let Him handle it for you. It may take a little time (it took four days before Lazarus was resurrected and it took four days before I started feeling better); but in the end, God will take care of His own!