“We allow ourselves to be operated on by a man who may easily make a mistake—a mistake which may cost us our life—and protest when God sets to work on us.” (Father Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, “Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence”, page 90).
The other day a person who is very dear to me required some very serious and extensive surgery.
Prior to her operation, the doctor who was going to perform the surgery for her told us that we should expect any outcome from this surgery. That was a frightening thing. It is very confronting to know that a person who is dear to you is going to go through something and you have no idea at all how that procedure will turn out.
A couple of years ago when I had my own surgery, I was told something quite similar. The surgeons who operated on me told me that they would not really know how the surgery would go until after the procedure, as it was an exploratory surgery, and that meant that they would be making decisions during the surgery and as I would be unconscious I could not contribute to that decision-making process. In other words, I WILLINGLY placed my life in the hands of the doctors who were operating. And when my dear person had her surgery the other day, she WILLINGLY did the same!
And I have been thinking about this ever since. You see, putting my trust in human hands is actually a very common thing that I do. In fact, I do it every single day. I do it when I consent to surgery. I do it when I ask a doctor how much medication I should be taking. I do it when I drive on the road and trust that other road-users will follow the rules and not do anything to harm me.
And I have been thinking about that today, because I read an excerpt from Father Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure’s text, “Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence”, and at page 90, this priest said…
“We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he knows his business. He orders an operation which involves cutting away part of our body and we accept it. We are grateful to him and pay him a large fee because we judge he would not act as he does unless the remedy were necessary, and we must rely on his skill. Yet we are unwilling to treat God in the same way! It looks as if we do not trust His wisdom and are afraid He cannot do His job properly. We allow ourselves to be operated on by a man who may easily make a mistake—a mistake which may cost us our life—and protest when God sets to work on us. If we could see all He sees we would unhesitatingly wish all He wishes.”
And when I think about that today, it occurs to me how silly I really am. You see, God knows everything, sees everything and understands everything. And that means that I am certainly in DAFE hands…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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