The Medical Missionary, vol. 13
November 1904
“Daily Bread for Christian Workers” The Medical Missionary 13, 11.
E. J. Waggoner
Tuesday, Nov. 1. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and in health; even as thy soul prospereth. 3 John 2.
Whoever believes that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” must accept these words as from God; and since “God is no respecter of persons,” it follows that they express God’s desire for everybody. It is not a light matter for one to lose his health. While it may not bring condemnation from God, it certainly grieves the Lord. The words of the text are full of hope; for since God sets so great value on our health, we may be sure that he has provided abundant means whereby we may retain it, or regain it if it is lost. When God’s will is done on earth as it is done in heaven, there will be no sickness. “The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” MEDM November 1904, page 347.1
Wednesday, Nov. 2. “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” (Literally, “I am the Lord, thy Physician.”) MEDM November 1904, page 347.2
Just as it is the wish of the Lord that all should be in health, so the doing of his will results in health. It can not be otherwise; for with God is “the fountain of life.” Just as “he that doeth righteousness is righteous,” so he that liveth healthfully is healthy. The promise of God to ancient Israel is for all who will hearken to him, and obey his law; and it is in full force to-day. And we must not think that we must wait till the new earth state for its fulfillment. We read that before the coming of the Lord, there will be people who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;” therefore, according to our text, it follows that they will all be free from disease. MEDM November 1904, page 347.3
Thursday, Nov. 3. Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. Exodus 23:25. MEDM November 1904, page 347.4
This promise is a step in advance of that in Exodus 15:26. There it is said that no diseases will come upon those who fear God and keep his commandments; here we learn that those who serve the Lord will have sickness taken away from there. They will be healed of their diseases,-made whole. But this text shows plainly that health is not an accident. God works through the means that he has provided. The food that God gives us is the proper medicine for the body. Taken as he gives it to us, in such measure and manner as to retain the blessing that he puts in it, recognizing him in it, and holding the strength that comes from it subject to him, health must follow. MEDM November 1904, page 348.1
Friday, Nov. 4. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases. Psalm 103:2, 3. MEDM November 1904, page 348.2
The Lord is the only healer. He is our life, and there is no life but from him. Only he can heal disease. But this text says more than this; it says not only that God is the healer, but that he heals all diseases. His healing power is co-equal and co-extensive with his forgiving mercy. Then why are not all healed? For the same reason that all are not saved; they do not recognize and accept the gift. God says to rebellious sinners: “Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee;” but all do not come. Forgiveness is free for all, however, if they will take it. Even so many who accept forgiveness, and rejoice in it, do not grasp the fact that the life which cleanses from sin is the life that raises the dead; and not believing for health, they do not receive it. “According to your faith be it unto you.” MEDM November 1904, page 348.3
Sabbath, Nov. 5. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Psalm 103:4. MEDM November 1904, page 348.4
The blessedness of the Psalms-that which makes them so pre-eminently adapted to devotion-is their personal character. They express human experience, and God’s relation to it. Every one who reads them, therefore, should read them as if they were his own experience; he should make them his experience. To read these verses, or to repeat them, and not to accept the redemption of the life from destruction, is to turn the Scriptures into a lie. We are too prone to read the Scriptures according to our experience, instead of, as we ought, letting them make our experience-an experience of things new and wonderful. MEDM November 1904, page 348.5
Sunday, Nov. 6. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:5. MEDM November 1904, page 348.6
The margin of the Revised Version is in harmony with the Hebrew, “years,” instead of mouth. The verse might be read, “Who satisfieth thy age with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Here we are reminded of the truth suggested in Exodus 23:25, that perfect hearth depends largely on living according to the diet that God prescribed and blessed. The trouble too often is that we are not satisfied with the good things that God provides. This is not because they are not satisfying, but because we do not train our appetites to choose that which is good. The ordinary appetite needs to be taken in hand and trained the same as a spoiled child. There is nothing which more quickly responds and yields to training than the appetite; and the promise, even to the old who are satisfied with God’s good things, is that they shall renew their youth. MEDM November 1904, page 348.7
Monday, Nov. 7. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing. Psalm 92:13, 14. MEDM November 1904, page 348.8
The reason for this, in harmony with Exodus 23:25 and Psalm 103:5, is found in the fact that “they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness” of the Lord’s house; and he will make them drink of the river of his pleasure. When may this be?-Now; for if we desire it as the one thing above all others, we may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life, even for ever. Psalm 27:4; 23:6. MEDM November 1904, page 348.9
Tuesday, Nov. 8. Himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases. Matthew 8:17. MEDM November 1904, page 348.10
In this verse we learn how it is that the Lord heals our diseases. He does it just as he forgives our sins-by taking the sin on himself. Just as he bears the sins of the world, so he bears the diseases of the world; and yet people in their ignorance and unbelief go on bearing all the load themselves. If we learn of him, and walk in his way, the burden will be removed from us, and he will swallow it up in life. These promises and assurances are for us now; if we do not experience the blessing of freedom from disease, it is our duty to search for the hindering cause until we find it, assured that God will not fail us. MEDM November 1904, page 348.11
Wednesday, Nov. 9. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly. John 10:10. MEDM November 1904, page 349.1
God is “the living God;” he is our life and Christ is the Lifegiver. All life is one, but much depends upon the measure of it that we receive. Christ came to give life to the world. The life which all men live day by day is given to them by virtue of the sacrifice of Christ. The breath that we breathe comes to us from the cross of Calvary, where Christ “breathed out” his life for mankind. But this is not sufficient; if it were all, it would amount to nothing; for we should soon be as if we had not been. So Christ came that we might have more abundant life, “even length of days for ever and ever.” The greater includes the less; we believe that we have eternal life in Christ; how ear for him to “hold our soul in life” in this present time! MEDM November 1904, page 349.2
Thursday, Nov. 10. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. Psalm 91:5, 6. MEDM November 1904, page 349.3
What a blessed condition! what perfect rest and content, to “be quiet from fear of evil;” to know that we are immune when the pestilence rages. Who may have this confidence? He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, making the Lord his habitation. But you say that it refers to “the time of trouble,” when the seven last plagues shall be on the earth. Very true: but how can we know that God will protect us in the time of trouble to come, if we do not have his protection in present troubles? And if men do not now take God’s presence as the shield against disease, how can they trust in it when “sudden destruction” comes? Will they not be found unprepared? “God is our refuge and strength” to-day, as surely as he ever will be, if we will but take him as such. It is possible, and is God’s desire for us, that we shall be as free from the ravages of epidemics now, as when a thousand fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand. MEDM November 1904, page 349.4
Friday, Nov. 11. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Psalm 121:6. MEDM November 1904, page 349.5
In the fourth of the seven last plagues, the atmosphere will be so changed that the sun will have power to “scorch men with fire,” yet the promise is that no plague shall come near the dwelling of any one who trusts in the Lord. If we believe this promise, we shall certainly make use of it whenever the sun shines with excessive vehemence, and shall find in the presence of the Lord a certain safeguard against sunstroke. Those who are proclaiming the truth of the Lord’s coming, and of the great deliverances connected with it, ought themselves to be specially free from disease. How else can they expect the world to believe them? MEDM November 1904, page 349.6
Sabbath, Nov. 12. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Psalm 67:1, 2. MEDM November 1904, page 349.7
We read that one day when Jesus sat teaching in the midst of Pharisees and doctors of the law, “the power of the Lord was present to heal them” (Luke 5:17); but the only way that it could certainly be known that healing power was present was by its effect on somebody. One man believed and was made whole, and the multitude gave God the glory. So when those who go into all the world preaching the gospel, according to Christ’s command, reveal in their own bodies God’s saving health, it will be known among all the nations, and not till then. The power of the Lord is always present to heal whenever Jesus is present; for He is “the power of God;” and He is present with his people now, and “even unto the end of the world.” MEDM November 1904, page 349.8
Sunday, Nov. 13. He sent his word, and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Psalm 107:20. MEDM November 1904, page 349.9
The Revised Version makes this in the present-“he sendeth his word, and healeth them.” Surely God is able and willing now to do whatever he has done for those who called upon him in past time. And who are these whom God heals?-They are “fools” who are afflicted because of their transgression, and who have brought themselves “near unto the gates of death.” It matters not that we have brought our afflictions upon ourselves, and that they are only the consequences of our own folly, the Lord will heal us, and keep us well, if we will but receive his word. That means that we must give his word free course in us. God’s word is life; and if we learn “the law of the spirit of life in Christ,” and submit to that law, life and health from the Lord must result. MEDM November 1904, page 349.10
Monday, Nov. 14. My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Proverbs 4:20-22. MEDM November 1904, page 349.11
This is why afflicted ones are healed when God sends his word to them. God’s word “runneth very swiftly;” consequently, whoever is willing to receive it may speedily be delivered from “all the diseases that flesh is heir to.” But this will not be anything in the way of magic. It will be the result of studying God’s word in his works as well as in the Scriptures, and coming into harmony with it. If “the word of life” is kept dwelling in one, it must follow that that one will live. MEDM November 1904, page 350.1
Tuesday, Nov. 15. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31. MEDM November 1904, page 350.2
Waiting on the Lord implies steadiness of purpose. Daniel served in Nebuchadnezzar’s court, but he waited on a greater Sovereign than Nebuchadnezzar, and he showed it by purposing in his heart that he would not depart from the law of his God. The result was seen in Daniel’s superior physical and mental strength. For full seventy years Daniel was the leading man in the kingdom, responsible for the business of the whole world, and the last we hear of him he was as keen and active as ever. The promise in this verse is specially to the old who trust in the Lord, in contrast with the young who walk in their own ways. New strength every day is the portion of those who wait on the Lord. This means, of course, that they know the ways of the Lord, and conform to them. MEDM November 1904, page 350.3
Wednesday, Nov. 16. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily. Isaiah 58:8. MEDM November 1904, page 350.4
When will this be?—When thou dealest thy bread to the hungry, and bringest the poor that are cast out to thy house, and “when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him.” Here is a promise of speedy health, and therefore health is possible. It must not be forgotten, however, that one of the conditions is “that ye break every yoke,” loosing the bands of wickedness, and undoing the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free. This includes the yokes and bands that we have placed upon ourselves, as well as those with which we have oppressed others. Many of our chains we cling to; but surely such a result as is promised in our text is worth all self-denial, especially when that which we part with is a chain. MEDM November 1904, page 350.5
Thursday, Nov. 17. The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Isaiah 58:11. MEDM November 1904, page 350.6
Why like a watered garden and a spring of everflowing water?-Because of partaking of the water that Christ gives which is a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Our light will rise in obscurity and our darkness be as the noonday only when the Light of the world shines upon us and in us. That is, such going about doing good as is spoken of in this chapter can be done only by one in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells in full measure; and to such the health of Christ will necessarily be imparted. Although he bore our sicknesses, no one ever saw him ill or unable to respond to a call for help. MEDM November 1904, page 350.7
Friday, Nov. 18. Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not; for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. Jeremiah 45:5. MEDM November 1904, page 350.8
So by not seeking great things for ourselves, the greatest thing will be given us for life is more than all things else, inasmuch as it includes all things. What a blessed promise this is for the missionary in strange lands. Even though he goes to the West Coast of Africa, which is known as “the white man’s grave,” he has the assurance that he can have his life saved for him. The one who goes at the bidding of God to carry his message, does not “take his life in his hand.” If he carried it in so insecure a place, he would certainly lose it. His life is hid with Christ in God, and being “bound in the bundle of life with the Lord,” it is as safe as God’s Iife. This promise is equally valid for those who are serving God at home. MEDM November 1904, page 350.9
Sabbath, Nov. 19. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Mark 16:18. MEDM November 1904, page 350.10
When men have such abundance of life dwelling in them that venomous serpents will have no power to harm them and that they can drink poison without injury, they will have life to bestow on others, and will truly be “ministers of the Spirit.” This promise is in line with Jeremiah 45:5, and shows that that verse applies especially to those who go into all the world, preaching the gospel to every creature. Of course it is understood that nobody having such power would attempt to use it for display. Such an attempt would result in its speedy Ioss. This blessing is only for those who seek not great things for themselves. That the promise is not a vain one, is proved by the case of Paul, to mention no other. It needs no argument to show that one who can drink a deadly thing without harm will be able successfully to resist any kind and quantity of disease germs. And so again we see the possibility of perfect health for those who serve God. MEDM November 1904, page 350.11
Sunday, Nov. 20. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Psalm 91:9, 10. MEDM November 1904, page 351.1
What could be a stronger witness to the presence of the power of God? Surely the following promise will be fulfilled to those who dwell thus securely in the midst of devastating plagues: “They shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45:4.) Who, then, can believe that God will reserve the greatest of all witnesses for the time when it will be of no avail. Because the Gospel will already have been preached in all the world for a witness into all nations? Now is the time when such witness will be effective, and now it may be given by those who dwell in God. MEDM November 1904, page 351.2
Monday, Nov. 21. As thy days, so shall thy strength be. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:25-27. MEDM November 1904, page 351.3
Read the context, and see how exactly it coincides with the text last cited. “As thy days so shall thy strength be.” This is commonly quoted, “As thy day so shall thy strength be,” and is taken to mean that whatever any day may bring, strength will be given to bear it. This it does mean and more, too. What it says, and what the Hebrew expresses will more plainly, is that as many as our days may be, while they last, strength will last. Strength is to increase with our days, when we continually rest in the everlasting Arms. This is in harmony with the assurance that “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” MEDM November 1904, page 351.4
Tuesday, Nov. 22. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Psalm 116:15. MEDM November 1904, page 351.5
The Lord’s saints are workers together with him. They are his children, who have learned his ways by seeing the works that he has brought before them. Surely, then, the Lord would gladly keep them alive. He has not so many workers that he can afford to lay any aside unless their death would glorify him. The fact that God’s people die is no evidence that he has cut them off; on the contrary, he is grieved at their loss. Their death is costly, and the more devoted they are to his cause, the more costly is their death. Yet those who, like Paul, have only the one desire, that God may be glorified in their bodies, whether by life or death, may be used to his glory in death. Such ones, though dead, will yet speak. Their testimony will not end with their lives. MEDM November 1904, page 351.6
Wednesday, Nov. 23. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear, The Lord is the strength of my life: of whom shall l be afraid? Psalm 27:1. MEDM November 1904, page 351.7
Meditate on the expression, “The Lord is the strength of my life.” This evidently means more than the simple truth that our life is from the Lord. It means nothing less than that the Almighty himself is our life. Such a life is surely invulnerable. “Of whom shall I be afraid?” Not of our adversary, the devil, whose only power is death. The shield of faith, the faith of Jesus, will quench all his fiery darts. MEDM November 1904, page 351.8
“A mighty fortress is our God,
A refuge never failing.”
MEDM November 1904, page 351.9
Thursday, Nov. 24. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1. MEDM November 1904, page 351.10
Such a present God will accept. And he will use it well, taking care that it is not destroyed. Only he who defiles (destroys) the temple of God, will God destroy. But when we say from the heart, MEDM November 1904, page 351.11
“Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to thee,“
MEDM November 1904, page 351.12
and yield it up to Him, we may be sure that God will preserve it from all evil. This verse emphasizes the fact that we are to put ourselves consciously and intelligently into God’s hands if we would have the blessing of perfect health in body, soul, and spirit. MEDM November 1904, page 351.13
Friday, Nov. 25. Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth; and thou will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make [rnargin, “turn”] all his bed in his sickness. Psalm 41:3. MEDM November 1904, page 351.14
There is a promise for those who, having served God faithfully, are nevertheless laid upon the bed of languishing. “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.” Job was a perfect and an upright man, who feared God, and eschewed evil; yet he suffered terrible afflictions. However, he was delivered from them all. The Lord “turned” his bed in his sickness, and he rose a well man, because he did not lose his faith. Many more people might live, if in the midst of sore afflictions they could keep hold of God’s promise to keep them alive, and say, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” MEDM November 1904, page 351.15
Sabbath, Nov. 26. We were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10. MEDM November 1904, page 352.1
Brought down to the verge of death, so that all hope seemed lost, Paul was delivered from death by trusting in God, who raises the dead. God sometimes allows his most faithful ones to suffer deep affliction, that they may more perfectly learn that their life and strength are in God alone. Paul suffered, but he was kept alive. He experienced what every one may experience now-the power of the resurrection. MEDM November 1904, page 352.2
Sunday, Nov. 27. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:10. MEDM November 1904, page 352.3
Christ crucified means Christ risen. It was the resurrection power that saved Christ from all the attacks upon his life, and from all the diseases that he took upon himself, and enabled him to lay down his life as a voluntary sacrifice. It was as sure that he would come out of the grave as that he went into it. God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, “because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” Whoever, therefore, has the dying of Jesus in his body, is sure of the life of Jesus. And this life is to be made manifest in the body, by keeping it alive; for Jesus Christ by the grace of God tasted death for every man. He died that we might live; and He who can keep us alive throughout eternity, can easily keep us alive the few years that this present evil world has to stand. MEDM November 1904, page 352.4
Monday, Nov. 28. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 2 Corinthians 4:11. MEDM November 1904, page 352.5
Note that the life of Jesus is to be “made manifest in our mortal flesh.” When it is said that his life is manifested in sinful flesh, we know that it means that it successfully resists its sinfulness. In like manner we are to know that the life of Jesus manifest in mortal flesh is in overcoming its mortality. In no other way could life be made manifest in mortal flesh. Immortality will not be bestowed until the coming of Christ in glory; but eternal life is ours now, to be manifested in the midst of mortality. MEDM November 1904, page 352.6
Tuesday, Nov. 29. By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10. MEDM November 1904, page 352.7
Paul was the weakest and frailest in body of all the apostles: yet he labored more abundantly than they all, because he more fully than any other presented his body a living sacrifice. He kept his body under, and neither disease nor sin could overcome it. Stoned and left for dead as he was in Asia (compare Acts 14:19, 20; 2 Corinthians 1:8-10), he nevertheless continued his work without interruption. Even though it was in weakness and in “much trembling;” he still continued to work. And that is the great thing. God’s life in our mortal flesh may be manifested in two ways: in healing our diseases, and in making us superior to them, so that, even though suffering, we can work as much as if well. In either way God is glorified, and that is enough. MEDM November 1904, page 352.8
Wednesday, Nov. 30. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10. MEDM November 1904, page 352.9
To the person who has this experience, sickness is the same as health; for even more than health does it show the power of the life of Jesus in mortal flesh. In such a case it is no disgrace to suffer infirmity, but it is something in which to glory, since it is to the glory of God. All this springs from that wonderful life that is freely given to all who will receive it. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” MEDM November 1904, page 352.10