Today, on Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement when God covers and makes whole - I enter the operating room not in fear, trepidation, or defeat, but as one who has heard the whisper of the Almighty in the midst of the storm.
THE INTERCHANGE OF PROMISE AND PERIL
The medical reality declares: This morning, your heart will be stopped. A machine will sustain your very life.
But the Word of the Lord proclaims: "Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands." (Psalm 112:1) Even when my heart stops beating, His love never stops flowing.
The surgeon announces: You need a quadruple bypass - four pathways to life that have failed you.
But my soul responds with the confidence of the psalmist: "They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes." (Psalm 112:7-8) What the world calls "bad news," I have received as God's invitation to witness His power.
The diagnosis was meant to devastate: "Your heart is failing. The pathways to life are blocked."
But I declare with unshaken faith: "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord." (Psalm 112:7) I've been looking forward to this day ever since I received what others called 'bad news' - because I knew my God had better plans.
The flesh whispers fears: What if you don't make it? What if this is the end?
But God whispered to me a short time ago, just as He promised: "Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." (Psalm 103:5) He is making all things new, starting with this failing heart.
The world sees surgical intervention: They will cut open my chest and repair what is broken.
But I see divine restoration:"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26) "This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts." (Hebrews 8:10) I rejoice because I am receiving a 'new heart' - a 'renewed heart' - a heart autographed by God Himself.
The operating room may seem like a place of trial: Masked strangers will hold my life in their hands.
But I enter with the anthem of the redeemed: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4) For He is good and His love endures forever! (Psalm 136:1)
THE DECLARATION OF TRIUMPH
How perfectly orchestrated by the Master of all timing - that this surgery to give me a new heart falls on Yom Kippur, the day when God covers what is broken and makes atonement for what has failed.
This morning, when they stop my heart and place me on the bypass machine, I am not being sustained by technology alone - I am being held by the One who "gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not." (Romans 4:17) The same God who breathed life into Adam's nostrils will breathe life back into these lungs when the procedure is complete.
I rejoice in the Lord - again I say, I rejoice in the Lord! - not despite this quadruple bypass, but because of what God is doing through it. What the Adversary meant for destruction, God is using for my renewal. What the enemy intended as an ending, the Almighty is orchestrating as a new beginning.
"They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord." (Psalm 112:7) Today I prove that promise true.
My heart may stop beating for a time, but His heart for me never skips a beat. The bypass machine may sustain my body, but His unfailing love sustains my soul. The surgeons may give me new pathways to life, but He has already given me the Way, the Truth, and the Life eternal.
"Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." (Psalm 103:5)
Let the bypass begin. My God has already bypassed every obstacle to His love.
"He who was seated on the throne says, 'I am making everything new!'" (Revelation 21:5)
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! For He is good and His love endures forever." (Philippians 4:4, Psalm 136:1)
