I was watching the a medical drama the other day where a psychiatrist a patient that suffers from this recurring hallucination of a wolf that attacks him. The cause of the hallucination wasn’t addressed. The young man’s father was the psychiatrist’s other patient and he, naturally, was trying to do everything in his power to help him. His son’s medications weren’t working and therapy wasn’t working either, so they went as far as trying deep brain stimulation.
Deep brain stimulation is a procedure where electrodes are inserted in certain areas of the brain. These electrodes produce electrical impulses that regulate abnormal impulses. This procedure is only approved by the FDA to treat a small number of conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. The procedure is risky because the surgery can have serious complications and the side effects after surgery can be serious as well.
The young man in the show has a successful surgery without any complication, however, his hallucination returns. Having exhausted all options the doctor suggests that he go spend some time at an agriculture co-op to get him out of the city. The doctor realized that the young man’s hallucinations are incurable because the father and himself are trying too hard to fix him instead of just giving him support. So, the father and the son decide that this is the best option and it will allow him to focus on drawing, which is his hobby.
The lesson I took away from this is that sometimes people identify a problem that needs fixing, then they realize they identified the wrong problem. They thought they knew what they needed, however, they didn’t know what they needed. This isn’t an issue for God, though.
This episode reminded me of one of the healings Jesus performed. From Mark 2, “A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”” (v. 1-5)
Jesus did heal the man of his paralysis later in the account, but he started with what the man really needed: forgiveness of sin. The man and his friends were seeking physical healing for him (which isn’t wrong), however, they didn’t know everything the paralyzed man needed. Jesus knew everything the man needed and he knew what was more important. Forgiveness of sins prepared the man for eternal life, priority 1, whereas healing made his earthly life easier, priority 2.
We, as humans, want what we want to be fixed, fixed first, but God knows what we really need. Paul wrote in Romans 8:26-27, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
God himself intercedes for us in our prayers to take the intentions of our hearts and show us what we should pray for. He knows that we truly don’t know what we need many times, so He helps us to understand what we need to pray for.
I always liked the story of this particular healing. It’s obvious that I can relate to the man, in that we both have physical disabilities. I can also relate with the man’s need for spiritual healing, as in God’s grace and forgiveness of sins. Both the paralyzed man and I received spiritual healing first. Jesus knew the man wanted physical healing, but He also knew the man needed spiritual healing.
I am thankful that God healed me spiritually before healing me physically. If He later chooses to cure Muscular Dystrophy, then I’ll be thankful for that too; however, if He doesn’t, then I’ll still be thankful for spiritual healing.
God always knows exactly what we need, even when we don’t know what we need. Matthew 6:8 puts this another way, it says that the “Father knows what you need before you ask him.” When you pray, remember that God will always know what you need.
