We were feeling pretty triumphant. My husband had just had a physical, and his numbers were incredible! His cholesterol had dropped by over 40 points with HDL on its way up and LDL down, and his triglycerides had dropped by an even more incredible number into the normal region. It has been years since his labs looked this way, and it seemed that good health was something we could celebrate.
Then about a week later, he woke up with digestive discomfort, symptoms similar to the ones that sent him to the ER in February. This time we knew his heart was not a concern, so we waited things out to see if they would get better. The doctor eventually prescribed an acid reducer and did some blood work. Life went on but the pain didn't go away.
After more tests and three more weeks of waiting, the verdict came last Friday. While he doesn't have gallstones, his gallbladder is not functioning. We're waiting to talk to a surgeon, but it sounds like it's going to have to come out.
Middle age is upon us, and our weeks of waiting and my own worrying has meant plenty of time to think. While we hope for many more years of serving Christ and good health to do so, our bodies are beginning to wear out. The curse of sin resulting in the death of the body is becoming more real. And it has made me think how sin-wrecked our daily existence really is. It is a bit like the CD player in our van. We got so used to it not working, we quit thinking about it. Isn't that a bit like this life? Things are not what they should be, but we are so used to heartache and pain that we continue to plod on, thinking this is about how things should be.
Headache? Take a pill and wait for it to go away.
Pet fish died? Flush it down the toilet and buy a new one.
Bad day at work? Come home, find some good fun or entertainment, and push it out of mind as best you can until tomorrow.
Drought? Pull out the garden plants, make adjustments to the food budget, and hope for a better growing season next year.
All of that seems reasonable until the pain is more than we can easily bear.
Disease, pain, and death, all inescapable yet somehow we must push through, until our own time to part from this world will come.
It sounds morbid, but it is reality. Life is not all pie in the sky, and pain is real. So is my sin and the weight of the curse.
However, I'm finding that in moments of pain, the gospel becomes all the sweeter. There really is something wrong with this world, and the brokenness we all experience will one day be set right. For every burden and tear, there is the promise of future redemption and joy. That is the hope we have when we trust Christ has taken our punishment and will return one day in triumph over sin. And disease. And death.
If pain is a reminder that all is not right with the world, it is a welcome one. Because right around the corner is the gospel, reminding me that our best days are yet to come, when sin is defeated and sweet fellowship with our God is fully restored. Perhaps it will help quell the longings for this world and give me more for the next one.
"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved..." Romans 8:22-24a
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