The Lordship Of Medicine

Then the LORD told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed! [Numbers 21.8-9]

This all sounds so good! Well, it sounded good for a while, anyway... It would be years later that something significant is found in 2 Kings regarding Hezekiah and this same snake on a pole. Look at what 2 Kings says about Hezekiah:

He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan. [2 Kings 18.3-4]

Israel began to worship Nehushtan, the very thing God had actually told Moses to make had become elevated to a position of lordship - Israel began to worship it as an idol - thus had begun the lordship of medicine.

It doesn't require a scholar to understand that even though God might provide good things for His people, great care must be taken to avoid worshiping those gifts instead of the Giver.

For this reason, all should be leery of the medical industry. It doesn't require much consideration to see that people have largely forgotten that God is their Healer evidenced by their wholesale servitude to the medical industry. I chose the word "servitude" because of the prevailing resignation to the will (lordship) of medicine... "I have to go to the doctor." "The doctor put me on [whatever drug]." "I have to have this surgery." "I'll die if I don't have my medicine." "I have to take this pill for the rest of my life."

Do I need to go on? The more I listen, the more it sounds like people serve medicine instead of medicine serving the people! And yes, this is a real problem. The story of Hezekiah destroying Nehushtan alerts us to this real problem in our own time! Should it not alarm every supposedly "God-fearing" defender of medicine that medicine's universal symbol is the ornate depiction of a snake on a pole - the very idol Hezekiah had to destroy? If the simple snake on a pole was an idol in Hezekiah's time, how much more dangerous is the highly advanced industry of our time whose symbol is that very same snake on a pole?

Still not convinced? In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lordship of medicine over man revealed itself when it touted these words, "trust the science!" in direct opposition to those who suggested prayer to God for help.

One might argue, "I can go to the doctor and still trust God entirely as my Healer." 

"But why would any God-fearing person go to what the Bible depicts as an idol?"

"Because if I don't, I will die."

"Then, you don't need God, but you do need medicine!"

What compels you is what you serve. What you serve is your master.

Father, I want no doubt in my mind that You are my Lord and my Healer. The only way I can be absolutely sure of Whom I trust is to trust You and You alone.