Do you ever find yourself thinking you’d do better if you just had a little more of something — like a little more time, or money, or brains? Well perhaps you’re wrong, at least about the brains.
From the category of the unbelievable comes this article by Real Clear Science:
… A 44-year-old happily married man with a white-collar job and two children visited a hospital in Marseille, France complaining of mild weakness in his left leg. Some time later, he concluded his hospital episode with his leg weakness cured, but with another, intriguing diagnosis in tow: he was missing most of his brain.
How did this strange condition develop? It began as a case of hydrocephalus (water on the brain) when he was a baby. Although initially treated successfully, the shunt inserted to relieve the pressure was removed at age 14, allowing the fluid to slowly build up over the years.
In retrospect, it would have been better to have left it in, because over the next three decades the fluid was allowed to build up in the ventricles, pushing the brain matter back, until all that remained lay at the outer regions of the skull.
Incredibly, beyond a slightly lower than average IQ, he suffered no ill effects.
Do you ever worry about what you don’t have? For example, it’s natural to be anxious while going through a period of financial stress or health challenges. It’s natural, but it’s not necessary. The truth is, God gives every Christian everything they need to do everything He expects them to do. Whatever it is you may lack, rest assured, you apparently don’t need it for your current mission.
So many of our fears arise from a lack of faith on this point. Think about it — God either exercises providential care or He doesn’t. God is in control or He isn’t. God can bring purpose to every circumstance or He can’t.
It’s a contradiction to suggest that you believe in a sovereign God who loves you, while living in constant fear of not having all that you think you need.
At these times, the only essential thing that’s missing is faith. But our lack of faith does not negate the faithfulness of God. It just blinds us to it.
So, the next time all of the empirical evidence strongly suggests that you lack some really essential thing, remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:20, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
With Jesus always with you, you have all you need to do all that God calls you to do.
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Adapted from “The Healthy Man Who Was Missing a Brain,” Ross Pomeroy, August 2015; < http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2015/08/the_normal_man_who_was_missing_a_brain.html >.