The writer of an old letter speaks of people who have no special relationship with God and yet states: “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19, 20). Unfortunately, the vast majority of people have forgotten to understand God’s love for their souls and to ask about Him.
On a Friday in mid-April 2024, I was wheeled into the operating room at 8:00 am. Six hours later, the heart surgery was complete. This was followed by several days in the ICU, in the critical care unit, and then one day in the regular ward before I was discharged on the 6th day after the operation. The following day, I saw my family doctor, who put together a medication plan based on the information received from the hospital. That was yesterday – today is my second day at home, and I am enjoying the strength, love, and grace of God. (Yes, of course I’m still rather weak….)
Already in the clinic, one thought had occupied my mind. During the day, I was probably given 10-15 different medications. Now at home, there were ten more medications. This morning as I lay pensively in bed, I went through the list in my mind. And suddenly I was faced with the question: But which medication is the trigger for my body to heal? Because when I look at the whole list, it’s always medication for some particular condition. For high blood pressure, for blood thinning, for….
The medication that triggers healing in my body is definitely missing from the list. This would actually be the most important medication. What good are all the tablets for various problems if no tablet triggers and promotes healing? And what I have experienced in the last few days is something I could never have imagined before. In the first 24 hours after the operation, it was possible to recognize a human body – and with earnest effort it was even possible to penetrate my consciousness. But I myself was completely helpless, disoriented, and unable to do anything of my own volition. On the fourth day, I was already able to walk short distances without any help. Mind and body had found each other again, and on the fifth day there was already talk of me being discharged.
We grew up with the natural law of cause and effect. Hence my question to you: Where is the drug that propelled my healing in such a spectacular time?
You may have quite different answers to this question. But surely, we all come to the point: God has created the body so wonderfully, has given it life and everything that sustains it, and transforms even catastrophes back into health. Medicine reckons with this fact. But don’t we realize that the ultimate source is really God?
Before my own operation, the surgeon told me that he always experiences a miracle during such operations. After the work has been completed, the heart is removed from the heart-lung machine – and repeatedly they experience how the previously silent heart begins to beat by itself. I heard the amazement in this experienced doctor’s voice.
Dear reader, let me take you on a little tour. You see an operating table in a university hospital with a row of doctors standing around it. They have the most modern technology, all the knowledge of our time, all the necessary therapeutic and medical aids at their disposal. The best experts work intensively and perform heart surgery. The narrowed part of an artery is replaced by a vein from the leg – a classic bypass.
Despite optimal conditions, this heart does not start working again. It simply remains silent. All humanly conceivable and medically feasible measures are initiated. The struggle lasts for hours until finally everyone at the table and all observers know: This heart will never beat again.
I withheld a detail from you: It was about the body of a person who had died hours earlier. All the available medication and technical support won’t help here. Dead remains dead. Of course, no doctor would expect life to return to the body through surgery and medication. Life comes from God alone. He alone can give and preserve it.
God has given you life and health. Completely undeserved. It is He alone who has preserved your life up to this moment, even if you have to deal with some illnesses and weaknesses. Even if you fight against the eternal God, reject, and insult Him – you owe your existence to His mercy and grace alone.
The introductory words that Paul writes to the Romans place each and every one of us in a position of responsibility before God. God expects you to seek Him. He wants to give your soul eternal life and allow your body to share in the blessing. You should experience that all your own experimentation or search for meaning, asceticism, or senseless consumption do not heal the soul, do not take away fear, and happiness only seems to take place in the lives of others. On the contrary, things become darker and more hopeless.
Stop. Help is available for you. The missing medicine is my beloved Savior. He left heaven to open the way to joy, happiness, and fulfillment for people like you and me. He has come to open up a life with eternal prospects for us. Please read John 3:1-16 and Matthew 11:28-30.
Before I return to my bed, let me ask you in conclusion: Don’t you want to seek this doctor and God today? As you read these lines, He has seen and observed you. He has read all the thoughts of your heart. He also sees the deep longing and hears the cry of a hopeless soul. Come to Him. He will give you life and salvation.
Hermann Vogt
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