3 Points and a Poem: Never Ignore That Pain in your toe

SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW

Never ignore that pain in your toe-–

Today I was conversing with a friend whom I hadn’t seen in quite a while and somewhere during the conversation, he brought up a recent crisis he had endured involving his big toe.

It seems while out of the country and upon entering a local business, he encountered a series of steps, uneven as they often are in Africa, and subsequently tripped, struck his toe on the step, and in time noticed that his toe had changed to a brilliant shade of blue and the pain from striking it on the step had only increased in its severity. After seeing the local doctor and securing an antibiotic regimen, he suffered through days of excruciating pain, little sleep, and difficulty breathing, only to discover later after being rushed to the emergency room, the appearance of blood clots in his lungs. It seems, after all, that his family is predisposed to the production of blood clots that can appear following the most minor of incidents, and when left undetected and untreated have proven fatal to relatives and friends.

It seems that the pain initially in his toe was speaking to him about something more serious at work in his body. The minor trauma in the big toe had been responsible for the formation of blood clots that then traveled all the way to the lungs. Amazing.

And so it is in the spiritual realm as well.

Often the initial point of entry for sin or danger in our lives is ignored because we don’t see it as detrimental or dangerous, only to discover later the potentially life-threatening consequences that such ignorance or denial can bring. I mean, really, who would have thought that “stubbing” your toe, would lead to multiple blood clots in your lungs. And yet, there lie my friend, in a foreign capital, relying on the wisdom and strong admonition from a stateside friend, who per chance, was a distinguished physician and professor at Harvard, and, who, ultimately led the foreign doctors to the correct diagnosis.

So, here’s some wisdom from my friend Ned on these matters.

AN ACTION TO TAKE

1. If it’s sin, confess it. After all in Psalm 32, the context suggests that David may have labored under the burden of his sin with Bathsheba for nearly a year, which he describes in some detail as affecting the very functionality of his body. I imagine he wasn’t thinking about that during the few moments of his passion, but while the passion waned, the discomfort waxed worse.
2. If it’s traumatic, address it. The likelihood that an unresolved issue will exist in a vacuum or remain contained in your carefully constructed bunker is unlikely. Only when the light of the Gospel and its grace is brought to bear on the trauma, can you begin to rediscover the joy of living.
3. If it’s symptomatic, work to prayerfully discover the source. The great joy inherent in finally getting to the root of a long buried hurt or anxiety is as they used to say in the commercial for “MASTERCARD”, priceless. It may not be solved in a day or many days, but the path toward healing has begun and the bondage that Satan or the flesh has over us can effectively be broken.

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER

In conclusion,

Dr. Mark J. Congrove