IN AND OUT OF THE SICKBED

Psalm 30
IN AND OUT OF THE SICKBED
O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. (v.2)

All healing comes by God. Medicine only assists in the healing process. Broken bones are put together again by the orthopaedic surgeon, but how they heal no one knows. Prescribed medicine prevents an illness from getting worse, but it is the human body fashioned by the Creator that repairs itself.

So we are right to say, "O LORD my God...you healed me." Medicine, surgery, rest, diet: all play a part, of course - but ultimately God heals. Thanksgiving is always in order when we recover from a sickness. For the psalmist, he sings in gratitude to God for delivering him from a near fatal illness (v.3). He learns two lessons in the process.

Firstly, suffering is temporary. He compares it to the night which however long will soon pass: "weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" (v.5). Pain makes time go by slowly, and we may be tempted to think it an eternity. But we are assured that at the darkest point of night, dawn will certainly come.

Secondly, presumption is foolish. "When I felt secure, I said, 'I will never be shaken" (v.6). When we are doing well, we become complacent. How true it is that when we are in good health, we take it for granted. When times are good, we forget God. The psalmist learnt that in adversity as well as in prosperity, he needed the LORD.

If the LORD should take us through a crisis, let us not think lightly of his deliverance. Many promises made to God in times of illness are forgotten once we get out of the sick bed. May it not be so. Let us never forget that it is God who heals us.

We pray, medicine helps, but God heals.