Wednesday, July 18, 2012


The Powerful Medicine in God’s Word



With the upsurge of the internet, self-diagnosis and self-medicating of illness appears to be at an all-time high. It seems that fewer people are apt to accept a doctor’s diagnosis or follow a pharmacist’s direction than ever before. You are probably not surprised by this. At some point you probably have taken this same approach to managing your health. I confess; I have.

Why self-medicate?

Perhaps:

·         The medicine prescribed is expensive and so in weighing up the costs you figured the financial cost to your wallet was greater than the physical repercussions. 

·         The original condition is perceived to be more acceptable than the requirements or side effects. 

·         There is a lack of trust in the doctor or the directives he or she has given.

·         The taste or the way the medicine goes down (GULP) is disliked. 

·         The loss of personal freedom to determine one’s own path seems unacceptable.

Self-medicating is also common in the spiritual realm. In Proverbs 4, a father is seeking to teach his son to trust scriptural decrees to manage his spiritual health. Proverbs 4:20–22 says, (NASB95)  20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body.

A common commercial today is for anti-aging cream that is said to both protect and restore your skin.   This is the picture that Proverbs 4 provides us of God’s Word as it is applied to the soul. The word translated ‘life’ speaks of nourishment that promotes good health. The word translated ‘health’ speaks of a remedy for the sin sick soul. The declaration is that God’s Word provides the elements necessary to increase our spiritual vigor and at the same time has elements to restore a poor spiritual condition caused by the effects of sin. Who wouldn’t want perfect skin or perfect spiritual health? Believe it or not, many of us! Here is the hitch. This health can only be found by accepting the diagnosis of God’s Word as to our problem, trusting the solutions and carefully, willingly following them regardless. Often, we simply do not want to do this.

Please recognize there is a real cost to following God’s Word. It may cost the way of life that is familiar to us. At times it will be uncomfortable, unpalatable, and hard to swallow. It will require that we yield the final say to God’s Word rather than our inclination.

Discipleship in all our lives is met at some point with a crisis of decision. At that moment, we are confronted by God’s truth in an area very personal where it is hard to accept the diagnosis of sin and the prescribed action from God’s Word to see that soul-contaminating issue eradicated. What we do in those moments determines what will happen next in our spiritual lives. It is a crucial, crossroad like, moment! At that point we must acknowledge that God’s Word is only useful if His directions are read carefully and adhered to strictly. Moreover, we must concede that a personally made cocktail of principles that we will and will not follow are dangerous, even deadly.   

The inspired Word of God, through the pen of the proverb writer here, says that we must give careful attention to and not ‘depart’ or wander from their directions to a self-made plan of our own choosing.  Instead, we must treasure, memorize, and meditate (“keep them in the midst of our heart”) on them so it becomes second nature to know and obey them. This means we must trust God’s Word unequivocally with an understanding that it is completely trustworthy.

Friends, our discipleship is dependent on trusting and obeying God’s Word at those crucial moments. Let’s pray for and admonish one another in those crucial moments to trust and obey God’s Word. Let’s pray for God and the Holy Spirit’s conviction and unction to do the same.   

Note: While you are praying, pray for the biblical counseling ministry (biblical counseling is simply intense discipleship) as they meet the same crisis points with each counselee that comes through our door. The description above is common to what each of our counselees face. Pray that God’s Holy Spirit will provide the conviction and the unction for life change to take place.

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