Psalm 102:1-17; Proverbs 3:5-12; Acts 7:44-56
Tuesday 12 May - Rev. Jerry Eve
I’m reminded on reading our passage from Proverbs today, that ‘None of These Diseases’ has been the title of a number of publications by people of faith who have also been people of science, and vice versa. It’s a text that comes to us from Exodus 15:26: “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”
Proverbs 3 tells us similarly that if we do a number of things then, “it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains.” So, what are these things. They are very similar in both places. In Exodus the people were told by Moses to 1) Listen carefully to the voice of God, 2) Do what is right in God’s sight, 3) Give heed to God’s commandments, and 4) Keep all God’s statutes.
In Proverbs we’re told to 1)Trust in the Lord, 2) Remember the Lord, 3) Obey the Lord, and 4) Honour the Lord.
The idea in these books is that the Bible teaches us, in these two places as well as elsewhere, that if we ‘do as we’re told’, then we’ll be healthier for it. The earliest I know of is S. I. McMillen’s book of that title first published in 1963, and revised in 1974. In 2000 he then got together with another Christian medic, David E. Stern, and together they produced a third edition.
Then, in 2013 there was one by Chris Oyakhilome, in 2015 one by Roshan Cipriani, and bang up to date, one by Daniel Okpara has just been published. It focuses on the coronavirus pandemic.
The only one I can really comment on, because I read the 1974 edition, is S. I. McMillen’s which, with humour in places I remember as very readable. It made a lot of sense. For, if your spiritual life is healthy, it argued, then it stands to reason that your emotional and physical health will benefit as well. It wasn’t a book that looked for miracle cures. But in quite a modest way there were explanations as to how being in a right relationship with God could lower stress levels and aid our immune system.
I also remember some helpful discussion in the book of those regulations in the Old Testament which relate to food hygiene. There are certain rules regarding the preparation of food, for example, and certain foodstuffs are prohibited. And I just wonder if people today were to have followed these, whether or not we would have ended up in the current situation? And I suspect that the answer is: maybe not.
Let us pray:
God, a few years ago the Pope gave away thousands of packets of prayer beads to pilgrims one Sunday morning in St Peter’s Square, packaged as medicine.
Above all else, people in Jesus’ day were attracted to Christ because he had the power to heal the sick.
Lord, lay your healing hand on each of us today, and spread your healing arms around the world, that all may be made well,
Amen.