A Hymn for When You Don't Trust Your Doctor

Even the best doctors have bad days. This is true. And grace goes both directions!

But have you ever had an experience with a doctor that has left you wondering if they really have your best interest at heart? I have and guess what? There's a hymn for that. 

Let me explain.

Many years ago I broke my hand in a fall and was sent to a hand specialist. He told me it was sprained and that it would be fine in a week. When a week passed and my hand was very black and blue I returned. The doctor told me it was healing nicely for a fracture (which was news to me) and that it would be a good while longer. His story had changed and he wasn't about to admit his earlier misdiagnosis.

That was my first experience with a doctor I had a hard time trusting. Later my experience would include a doctor who dismissed my concern about a possible thyroid condition and chalked up every symptom to everything but a thyroid condition. "Cold all the time? Well, you are in Minnesota."

A year later in a new state, I mentioned the same symptoms to my new doctor and she immediately tested to discover I have Hashimoto's —a thyroid condition, and signs to show I'd had it for a while.

But the craziest experience of all was with an eye doctor. Used to glasses, I thought I would try contact lenses for a change. During the fitting I accidentally put the lens in backward and the doctor said he had enough and while walking out of the room told me to come back another time! Now that doctor was having a bad day. (According to the receptionist, it wasn't his first).

Every one of these experiences reminds me that even though human doctors may fail us at times, we have access to The Great Physician -- Jesus Himself. While I've learned to become my own best advocate when it comes to medical care, I don't have to worry about that when it comes to Jesus. 

He is the best advocate we can have and the greatest Physician as well. He heals our sin-sick souls and ultimately oversees our entire wellness journey -- both physically and spiritually.

And there are many hymns to remind us of this but John Newton's "other testimony" gives just a few more details than his "Amazing Grace" and lovingly addresses Christ as our life-saving Physician.

How Lost Was My Condition

by John Newton

How lost was my condition,
Till Jesus made me whole!
There is but one physician
Can cure a sin-sick soul!
Next door to death He found me,
And snatched me from the grave;
To tell to all around me,
His wondrous power to save.

The worst of all diseases
Is light, compared with sin;
On every part it seizes,
But rages most within:
’Tis palsy, plague, and fever,
And madness—all combined;
And none but a believer,
The least relief can find.

From men great skill professing,
I thought a cure to gain;
But this proved more distressing,
And added to my pain:
Some said that nothing ailed me,
Some gave me up for lost;
Thus every refuge failed me,
And all my hopes were crossed.

At length this great Physician,
How matchless is His grace!
Accepted my petition,
And undertook my case;
First gave me sight to view Him,
For sin my eyes had sealed;
Then bid me look unto Him;
I looked, and I was healed.

A dying, risen Jesus,
Seen by the eye of faith,
From every danger frees us,
And saves the soul from death:
Come then to this Physician,
His help He’ll freely give;
He makes no hard condition,
’Tis only—look, and live.