Z-PAK vs. GOS-PILL, Devotional for July 10, from "Good Seeds"

My words are life to those who find them, and health to all their whole body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:20-23)

Isn’t it true that we don’t give much thought to our health and well-being until we start losing it? I’ve spent the last eleven days with a doozie of a cold. It doesn’t matter if I starve it or feed it, it keeps growing. So today I broke down and saw a doctor. One thing I like about this particular physician is the education I receive: he not only treats me, but he teaches me, how I probably got sick, why it has progressed, and what I need to do about it. “We’ve got to go down to the bare components, find out why they’re not working as they should, remove whatever sludge and poison we find, and then jump start them and get them purring again.” Well, this isn’t an exact quote, but the point is, we get these boisterous and snotty symptoms (coughs and, well, sludge!) all from little hidden abnormalities. My illness started with a virus – now there’s a mysterious organism: last I heard scientists still can’t decide whether it’s a plant or an animal! And I don’t know where it came from – exactly, though I suspect it was a gift from someone I love very much, since it was upon returning from our family reunion when my throat first got scratchy. Viruses, say the best medical experts, come and go, pretty much on their own, with no design or diagram known to man (kind of like the wind – see John 3:8). But we know their agenda: to wreak havoc on our frail bodies! I don’t know if my virus blew out or not, but it seems my cold caught a cold of its own, when the bacteria flew in. But these guys we can fight. The doctor almost rejoiced at my symptoms: “Okay, Steve, what you’ve got is something we can fix. Take two of these pills today, and four more in the next four days, and you’ll be good as new.” (I kept waiting for the rest of his sentence, “I guarantee it,” but it never came). In the meantime, I’m looking for the deeper meaning in all this. What lurks deeper even than the molecules and microbes roaming about in the dark realms of our bodies? Answer: the Word of God. God makes a bold claim when He says, “My Words are life and health to all who find them!” Better than the “Z-pack” purported to zap those burly little bacteria that still haunt me (especially at night) is the “Gos-pill” of the truths of Scripture. Reading the Bible brings health to my bones, says God, better than any medicine (not that I would foolishly decline the latter: “Do what you can do, and should do, but then sit back and wait, and watch God do what only He can do.” That’s my motto). And while I keep watching out for critters and crud, I must be even more vigilant for the health of my heart, for “from it flows the very springs of my life.”