Grateful for Good Health

Thursday - November 12th

Day 12: Attitude of Gratitude

Scripture to Read Today: Proverbs 3:1-18

---

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the LORD and shun evil.

This will bring health to your body

and nourishment to your bones.

Proverbs 3:7-8

Late last week, I developed the typical symptoms related to a common cold. Because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that it would not be wise for me to be around others. It also seemed prudent to call my doctor. He arranged to meet me in the middle of the afternoon in his office building's parking lot.

The nurse had instructed me to find a shady place in the parking lot and call up to them when I arrived. A few minutes after the call, my doctor and his nurse appeared in the parking lot, wearing what reminded me of hazmat suits.

After examining me and taking the COVID test where they go through your nostrils to scrape particles from your brain (or so it seems), he told me that there had been a recent spike in common colds in our area. He said that if I had called a year earlier, he would have simply suggested I not shake hands with others, get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and eat some chicken noodle soup. The COVID test and my temporary isolation until its results came back were a necessary step under the current pandemic. Thankfully by Sunday morning, the test results came back negative. I was suffering from a common cold.

This year, lockdowns and restrictions to slow the coronavirus's spread caused so much economic damage that the federal government stepped in with unprecedented stimulus checks for American households. Researchers and statisticians have yet to determine the full cost of COVID-19 on the U.S. economy. Though I did not have COVID, I recently read that the common cold also impacts the economy. The common cold leads to almost $10 billion in doctor's visits and medication per year in the United States. It is also responsible for nearly 315 million sick days from school and work, costing over $20 billion and accounting for 40% of time lost from work.

Being sick has lasting implications beyond our own spheres of life. Illness can also result from living lives apart from the way God desires and instructs us to live. Those who acquire and live by wisdom will enjoy better health than those who live out of foolishness. Proverbs 3:7-8 makes that connection. "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones."

We are not promised that we will have good health merely because we walk with God and live by His wisdom. But, living foolish, risky, evil lives opens the door for us to be exposed to so much that would challenge good health.

After a weekend with chicken soup and the common cold, I am grateful for good health again. Sometimes when we are sick, it is hard to remember what it was like to be in good health. When we get well, we appreciate being well even more.

If you have been struggling with medical challenges, rest in God for your daily strength and healing touch. He cares and seeks to walk with you through whatever you face. There are good doctors in our world today, but our God is the Great Physician!

Thank God for good health. Recognize that living in the wisdom God gives positions you to be in the best health possible!