“CAT” (C.T.) SCANS AND OTHER “-OSCOPIES”

Whenever I read Psalm 103:1 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name,” I think of the many “-oscopy” tests performed by doctors and medical technicians. Whatever one's “earth suit” (mortal body) disorder, it seems urgent for the physician to peer within me to see what can't be seen from the outside.

Have you ever considered how wise and thoughtful God was in creating our mortal bodies by not using see-through skin stretched all over our skeleton and flesh? Had He not used opaque skin, all of our organs would be visible to everyone! Our naked insides, “all that is within me” would continually be exposed!

Since I'm a cancer survivor, I've had my share of -oscopy experiences starting with multiple X-rays through the years. Many have had broncoscopies, colonoscopies, endoscopies, laparoscopies, gastroscopies, ultrasounds, sonograms, MRIs, and other diagnostic non-surgical procedures. Only a site-specific “scope” is used by the doctor or medical technician and the findings are displayed seemingly magically on a monitor to be read by a radiologist. Medical science has advanced to the point where a pre-born child can be observed while still in the womb by touching the mother's body from the outside with a special scope to see the child in motion.

David the psalmist used medical terminology in Psalm 139 far advanced of the times in which he lived. He described “scope” findings referring to the physical body with spiritual analogies. “O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me (“-oscopy” language). “Thou art intimately acquainted with all my ways...behold, Lord, Thou dost know it all...For Thou dost form my inward parts [literally, kidneys] Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame [literally, bones] was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, [literally, out of sight]....Thine eyes have seen [X-rayed] my unformed substance and in Thy book they were all written...Search me, O God, and know my heart....”

As marvelous as all the technological medical “-oscopies” are these days, they can't compare with how intimately God searches, sees, and knows me right through my skin, all the way to my inner being, to my spiritual heart. His invisible touch without any scope can see “all that is within me” and whether there is any disorder in me and can heal me as I surrender myself to Him. “Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.”

Sometimes a doctor sees a problem but it is beyond his skill to do anything about it. The Lord does not search us to expose our sin and disorder and then leave us that way. Thank God He is The Great Physician, our Creator and Sustainer, and there is healing in His loving touch!