In the beginning was med school. They got the education, worked on
corpses, and maybe interned working with real live patients. They graduated
from med school, interned, passed the state board test and were officially
doctors. They had the education, knew all the latest techniques, and then they
come face to face with a patient. And their medical experience begins. We get
to see what they have learned applied to a real life experience. Which reminds
me of the old joke, “what do you call the person who graduates last in his
medical class?” The answer, “doctor.” Which I was reminded of last week on my
visit to the ER for a bee sting, of which I am highly allergic. After the EMT’s
settled me, funny how one chest scar from open heart surgery makes them think
you aren’t healthy, “I wasn’t before the surgery, I am now,” I assured them.
Then why are we here? “Dude, I was stung by a bee!”
After the ER nurse asked me all the questions, got an IV going, and told me
the doctor will be in to see me, a very young doctor, accompanied by an intern
to take notes walked in. With all the confidence a young graduate can muster,
he began describing my condition to her in medical terms, some I understand.
Then he looked at my arms, my left arm in particular, which was heavily bruised,
and marked. Going off on some tangent about reactions and meds needed, I
stopped him. He observed, he never questioned them, school had taught him what
they were, unfortunately he didn’t have a course in riding a motorcycle in a
hail storm, which I had a few weeks earlier. The wind blowing so hard it was
perpendicular to the road, hitting me directly on the left arm, bruising me even
through my rain suit. They were bruises from riding in a hail storm, not some
disease, and his bubble was burst. He quickly turned his attention to the
blushing intern, who smiled at me, at he told her to leave, told me the nurse
would finish up with me, and he was gone. From the the young lady intern’s face
she had seen this before, her experience with him gave her more insight to my
medical problem than he might have had. He never asked me about them, just
pronounced sentence on my arm, all based on a med school education. He still had
to learn experience, what he may learn from it is up to him. He left quickly
and I never got a chance to thank him, nor ask about his class ranking.....I had
been stung in the face, and he never looked there.....
The problem with trying to understand everything is you will be faced with
a new situation you may not understand, and try to compare it to one you have.
Proverbs 3:5, a popular scripture everywhere, tells us to lean not on our own
understanding. Just like the doctor did. We think that if only we understood
the situation, if God explained in detail why we were going through what we were
going through, then we would get it, and deal with it better. We try to put
ourselves on the same wavelength as God, many times so we can only argue with
him, or suggest a better way, as if now that we understand, he doesn’t. We
think we will find peace and security in our understanding, yet it is fleeting,
and only lasts until the next misunderstanding, and then it must be God’s fault,
never ours. We think we finally have this Jesus thing figured out, and God
reminds us that we don’t, and how much we need his holy spirit to guide us. But
also in the same Proverb, he gives us the answer, one we must participate in,
which causes us to consider the things of God and make a choice. He tells us to
trust him in all our ways, with all our heart. Trust, the one thing standing
between the relationship with God we desire, the thing we tell others they need
to do, but we do not do ourselves. Trust.....and he will guide your paths. Now
do you understand?
Years ago I asked God why he doesn’t reveal his perfect plan for our
lives. His answer was simple, “because you would argue.” I don’t want to go
there, do that, interrupt my career. I don’t want to live there, I don’t like
those people, they don’t like me. What are you thinking God, and we would tell
him where he was wrong, correct him, and give him a better plan. Never
trusting, but always knowing better than the one who created us and controls
everything. While so many claim prayer is the answer, I know the one who
answers is the real answer. There is a difference....
The peace that surpasses words and the sense of security we find in it does
not depend on situations, only on the one who controls them. We do not look
ahead but are allowed to look back and see how God has things worked out ahead
of time, so he gets the glory, and it works out for our benefit. When we quit
trying to understand, we do not misdiagnose, we do not jump to conclusions, and
we do not fear. We trust, and with each experience we trust him more and more.
We seek the spirit, we listen to him, and obey, because we know his voice,and he
can be trusted. I trusted the doctor, but only so far, I trusted he knew what
he was doing. Better yet to trust the one who really does, who is guiding the
circumstances we are in. The one who knows what he is doing, who never panics
in a panic situation, and not only promises peace, but delivers it. Maybe that
is why doctors practice medicine, and why we need the holy spirit in our lives
daily. When we trust the one who holds the future, we find life is worth the
living, just because he lives. When the one who tells us “to be of good cheer
because he has overcome the world,” do we trust or understand?
One hail storm or one bee sting can be an eye opener, or an eye closer. We
say we trust the Lord, and we do, until that part about “in all your ways
acknowledge him,” that’s a toughie. Education can train us, but the
application helps us trust. Jesus must be experienced, not just learned about.
I hope my visit taught the doctor something he didn’t learn in med school. He
left before I could ask him any other questions. And one every med school grad
should know. What is the difference between an oral and a rectal
thermometer?
The flavor of course. Trust me on that one....and no not by experience
either. Now do you understand?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com