#203 FACING AN OPERATION

Each year, thousands of people enter the hospital to undergo surgery.  Through the skill of the surgeon, even the most delicate of surgery can be performed on the eye to save or restore sight; certain vital organs can be transplanted from one individual or another for the saving of life.  This is all well and good, but when I am the one facing surgery, and perhaps very serious surgery, this may not be very comforting.  In fact, the whole situation can be very frightening.  However, I can face surgery with the right frame of mind.  Some people approach surgery feeling God is punishing them for some sin that they have committed.  It is true that sometimes we suffer physically because of our sins, as in the case of the alcoholic, the smoker, the drug addict, or the one who over eats.  But to say that God punishes us with some physical disorder or dread disease doesn't seem quite right.  We see people around us who are dedicated Christians, hard hit by great tragedies, but in examining their lives we find no sin for which to be punished in such a way.  In the Old Testament book of Job, Job was told by his friends that the calamities which befell him must be the result of his sins.  He protested that he had not sinned in such a way as to deserve this.  As we see in reading the complete story, he had not, for it was Satan testing him.  Don't feel that God is punishing you.

Also, some people have never found the power in prayer.  In Matthew 21:22, Jesus is recorded as saying, "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." In James 5:15, we read, "...and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Jesus and James both speak of the power of prayer. We have confidence in the doctors and nurses in their efforts to provide the necessary care we need, yet their power can only go so far.  God has the far greater power, and we need to seek His blessing through prayer, not only as He guides the hands of those surgeons, but also to continue His care for our healing.

Finally, perhaps the greatest problem we have in facing surgery is the fear of death.  We may not be facing major surgery, but we still have that feeling that something will go wrong.  This fear is only natural, though, for we do not understand death.  We realize that the body ceases to function and begins to deteriorate, but we just don't understand what happens to US.  No one has ever died, been dead for some time, and then come back to tell us of their experiences.  However, though I may not understand death, I can overcome my fear of it.  David, in Psalm 23:4 wrote, "Yea, thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." David was sure of his relationship with God, therefore he did not fear death.  The key to our own peace of mind is making sure that our relationship to God is as it should be.  In I Peter 2:23, Peter speaking of Jesus facing death, says that He "...committed Himself to harmony with God." This is what we must do with our life in harmony with God, we need not fear death.  Realizing that God is not punishing us, relying upon the power of prayer, and putting the fear of death behind us through a life in harmony with God, we can say as Paul did in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Surgery is no longer a frightful thing, but that for which it was intended -- our healing.