For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.
Psalm 38:2
In Part 1 we saw how a distressed David knew whom to call upon. He called unto YHWH, a living person, our Lord and God. For David knew YHWH was the creator of all and it is YHWH’s providence that guides the lives of people and the history of nations. We also learned that David was not calling upon YHWH to withhold correctional chastisement and rebuke. David asked YHWH not to this in His penal divine wrath and anger. David is a beloved son in relationship with the Father who cares.
The next verse reveals the source of David’s suffering. The poetic image is of YHWH as an archer shooting arrows of affliction into David. YHWH’s hand, an anthropomorphism for YHWH’s acting, is pressing down upon David. The picture is one of being stricken or crushed. When David says: “your arrows” and “your hand” he is also acknowledging the personal and purposeful nature of this action. David cried out to YHWH for help because it is YHWH who is responsible for the illness. Therefore, it is YHWH who can provide relief.
Such imagery is known elsewhere in Scripture and in the ancient world. Homer, in the Iliad, describes the god Apollo using his arrows to bring pestilence upon the Achaeans because he is displeased over King Agamemnon’s actions concerning a captured woman, Chryseis. Lamentations 4:12-13 describe God as a bowman attacking Jerusalem as punishment for sin:
he bent his bow and set me
as a target for his arrow.
He drove into my kidneys
the arrows of his quiver;
God punished the people for numerous and repeated intergenerational sins including idolatry, disobedience and covenantal apostasy. He raised up and sent foreign armies to destroy and conquer Israel and then Judah. In Lamentations, Jerusalem is depicted as a person. The kidneys (bowels) are the seat of emotion (suffering) in ancient thinking. The arrows cause physical, emotional and spiritual pain. It is not just the illness but the fracture in the relationship between God and His people.
David’s understanding is not a mere appropriation of the beliefs and literature of the surrounding ancient culture. Although the pagans did not know the Lord and wrongly attributed such things to false gods, they did understand that there was someone who was above mankind and who ruled over men and creation. The pagan “relationship” with their gods was mostly impersonal and material. Therefore, they sought to appease these capricious entities with gifts and not true repentance. The goal was to win favor and not an intimate and reciprocal loving relationship.
Today, many look down upon the ancient world as primitive and superstitious. They lump the Bible together with other ancient pagan beliefs. They argue that either there is no God or if such a god exists, he or she would not behave in the manner of YHWH. They are offended that YHWH punishes sin, brings disaster and suffering.
Many Enlightenment thinkers continued to believe in the Lord and saw no paradox between their faith and reason. Others saw human reason and science to be incompatible with a belief in the Lord. They held that one must choose between the two and those who chose God were irrational and/or ignorant.
There is no logical contradiction between what we learn from studying our world and the existence of the God of Scripture. As we have seen earlier, science is descriptive whereas our faith informs us about origins, ultimate causes, and purposes. The latter are beyond the reach of the scientific method.
During the Enlightenment, many thinkers who wholly embraced this worldview, yet clung to some belief in God, tried to reconcile the two in Deism. Deism is a belief that a god created the universe and set it in motion but is not involved in its affairs. It rejects divine intervention (miracles), divine providence, prophecy, and the divine purpose behind every jot and tittle of human and natural history. The deist’s god is likened to a watchmaker who makes a watch, winds it up and lets it run by design without any further involvement.
Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and deist, went so far as to cut out the passages of scripture he believed to be false based upon his “enlightened” understanding. He pasted together the remaining passages to create “The Jefferson Bible.” What Jefferson did was no different than what pagans have done through the ages. As Paul describes in Romans 1:18-23, he failed to perceive the Lord in what was before him in nature. In doing so he exchanged the truth for a lie. Such men create a god in their own image. It is idolatry.
Those who rejected the Lord and argued for others to do the same, simply found new pretexts for their atheism. As Paul concludes “they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). And what has been the result? Scientists who reject the Scriptural account of creation argue that everything we see originated in “a big bang.” They have no firm explanation of what (or who) caused the “bang” or where the substance that “banged” came from in the first place. They describe things that seem to flip in and out of existence and speculate as to the origin of matter and energy without accepting the most obvious solution that these things periodically escape our limited ability to detect and model.
Many of the models describing natural phenomena are statistical. Rather than understand that these statistical models reflect our inability to precisely describe what we are investigating; a belief has arisen that what we see around us has happened because of chance. Is the entire universe as we know it is a product of chance? The human eye in all its beauty and complexity, is a product of chance and evolutionary selection despite the infinitesimally small calculated odds? Disease is often said to be “caused” by chance – a random mutation, infection or other event affects some and not others.
But as R. C. Sproul argues in his monograph, Not a Chance: God, Science, and the Revolt against Reason, chance cannot be a cause. For something to cause something else, it must have the properties of being or esse. In order to make an effect, chance must have ουσια (ousia; substance, property). When the scribes and elders asked Jesus “by what authority are you doing these things…” (Mark 11:33; Mt 21:24; Luke 20:8) they used the Greek word εξουσια (exousia; lit. out of being). They wanted to know who or what authoritative body granted Jesus permission. Chance is a statistical description of things and is not a thing itself. Lacking substance or property, chance cannot do anything. Therefore, ascribing any effect to chance as a cause is irrational. That is how “far” we have come.
The current worldview, descended from the Enlightenment, differs only in incidentals from ancient paganism. As Paul wrote “they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21). Notice that their hearts were darkened implying it happened to them. Further, although they claim to be the wise ones, they are fools (Romans 1:23). We learn the source of this blinding and hardening when the Apostle explains twice that “God gave them up” to their impure lusts and dishonorable passions (Romans 1:24, 26).
The reason God gave them up is “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). This led to a multitude of evils and sins that mirror today’s Western society (Romans 1:23-32).
Instead of worshiping idols of wood and stone we place our trust in our philosophy, science and reason. As a result, our hopes lay in our capacity to understand creation and then develop the means of fixing what we deem wrong. Never mind that we are constantly falling short and then revising yesterday’s dogma.
It is recognized that man is, by nature, a religious creature. You would be hard pressed to find a place where some form of religious beliefs and practices are absent. Ancient pagans worshipped nonexistent deities and believed in muses. Animism is a term used to describe the belief that objects such as plants, rocks and natural phenomena have living souls or spirits that affect man and his surroundings.
Even today, modern man yearns for some “spirituality.” Many atheists speak about spiritual things abstractly and without firm grounding. The so called “new age” movements are quite diverse but have in common some “mind, body and spirit” concept devoid of a personal deity. They promote wellness and healing through techniques such as meditation, biofeedback, yoga, kinesiology and so forth. Some draw upon practices found in Astrology, Hinduism, Buddhism and other eastern religions. They are offered as alternatives to traditional allopathic medicine.
Is it more rational to believe in the power of these nebulous abstract forces than to believe in a personal deity who cares for and is involved in our lives? New Age practitioners are no more able to demonstrate the ουσια or esse of these things than the substance of chance. At least idols of wood and stone have properties – you can touch and hold them. New Age consists of abstract ideas without form much less life or true spirit. They cannot cause anything as they are not beings.
Clearly allopathic medicine has objective benefits as do some aspects of alternative medical practices. Yoga and Tai Chi are very helpful for physical fitness, strength and balance. When linked to eastern religious practices and beliefs they become idolatrous worship harmful for the soul of man. What we have in allopathic medicine is provided by God in the same way he provides for our welfare through all our learning and technology. It is a gift, part of His creation. Our minds, creative power and spirit were made in His image. Just as his “eternal power and divine nature” is made manifest in the heavens and earth (Romans 1:20), they are clearly seen in our creative power which points to the Lord. Or do we create everything because of chance?
We are to take advantage of the things God has given us. We are to use allopathic medicine and other resources to do good, to heal and ease human suffering. We are to call others to help us when we are sick. Just as God appointed earthly authorities to rule, provide order, protection and services, he brings doctors, nurses and others into our lives for ordinary healing.
Yet we must always remember that the source of our affliction is either by the hand of God or permitted by God. It is He who hears our cries and laments. It is He who answers our prayers through appointed means. It is why we praise God in sickness and in health. For it is He who ultimately has the power and authority. Therefore, it is He we must turn to for healing.
Next we will explore the nature and ultimate cause of our illness as we continue to lament with David.
Biblical Perspective 