Modern science is a bit of a two-edged sword; wonderful in some ways and worrisome in others. Because of a bum shoulder, I recently had to do an x-ray and an ultrasound. As I sat during the latter, I watched on the screen with much interest what the ultrasound was showing. Some months ago I also did a stress echo test and watched in amazement my beating heart. Science and technology allow the medical professional to see some things that are not possible to see with the eye and that is a good thing. Doctors need to know what is physically wrong in order to facilitate the process of fixing it. And therein lies the rub because they cannot see everything.
As I looked at the monitors during the procedures, it occurred to me that the marvels of medicine could not reveal what was emotionally or spiritually wrong. A beating heart could be seen but a “heart” that is emotionally bruised, “broken”, or spiritually depraved would and could not show up on an x-ray or an ultrasound. Often times the pain we feel in these areas is just as intense as physical pain. We shed what seems like buckets of tears because of the hurt we feel; hurt that no painkillers, prescribed or otherwise, can heal. However, where clinical professionals fail, it is good to know that we have One who never fails in any area. Everything pertaining to us is open before His eyes.
These thoughts came to mind as I reflected on the words of Jeremiah: “O LORD of hosts, You who test the righteous, Who see the mind and the heart” (20:12, NASB). In the New Testament the apostle Peter affirmed, “And God, who knows the heart…” (Acts 15:8). In Romans 8:27-28 Paul writes, “And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” It simply means that when we are hurting in places that others cannot see, we can rest assured that God sees and knows.
This realization should enable us to be transparent before Him; to know that we can come to Him and trust Him with our hurts, our brokenness, and our tears. In fact, tears are a language that He fully understands and He is the only one qualified to heal “the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). All because no matter how deep the hurt, He sees it all. Something that modern medicine cannot do. We serve an amazing God!
