The Best Prescription

Martha’s forehead was creased with a deep frown. Her eyes were framed with lines of fear. Her life was so full of worries and cares! With a deep sigh she lay her hand over her heart which was fluttering again. Her head was aching again, too. It seemed that the more problems she had in her life, the worse she felt.

For the third year in a row the drought had destroyed their crops. The harvest had been very poor again. How could they begin to pay all their bills? Jake had gone to yet another bank this morning. Would he be able to get a loan this time? If this bank turned him away, he had nowhere else to go. Would they have to lose this farm that they had worked so hard day and night to keep?

With all these worries, Martha had become a very nervous person. Jake always tried to cheer her up. “Just think, dear,” he would say, “they always say that troubles come in threes. This is our third bad year, so next year is bound to be better!” But Martha only became more worried. What if Jake couldn’t get the money? What if they would lose their farm? What if...Martha began to feel faint. Where could she turn for help? At last she decided to make an appointment with her doctor.

During her visit to the doctor, Martha carefully described all the problems she was having with her health. She also told how worried she was about all the problems her family was experiencing. The doctor listened carefully and then asked Martha a number of questions. After a brief examination, he asked, “Martha, do you ever read the Bible?”

“Why, no!” exclaimed a puzzled Martha, “but what does that have to do with how I feel?”

“Everything!” replied the doctor kindly. “My prescription for you is this: Go home and read your Bible for an hour every day. Then come back to see me a month from today.”

Before Martha could protest, the doctor ushered her from the room and called for his next patient. Surprised to be treated this way, Martha felt angry at first. But at least she did not have to buy a lot of expensive medicines. It would cost nothing to read the Bible. And it certainly had been a long time since she had looked at the well-worn Book that she had received from her mother before she passed away. Now her conscience accused her. She thought back to how she had become so busy with the children and all the cares of daily life that she had gradually stopped reading her Bible and praying as her work increased.

Martha hurried home. Searching until she found her Bible, she placed it on the table near her favorite chair. Each morning Martha got up half an hour earlier than usual and read the Bible. Then following the noon meal she tried to find time to read for a while, and again after the children were in bed at night. The Lord blessed her reading, giving her a sense of His care and protection.

After doing this for a month, she returned to visit the doctor as she had promised. “Well,” the doctor said smiling as he looked at her face, “I see that you have followed my prescription faithfully. How do you feel? Do you think that you still need medication?”

“No, doctor,” Martha replied. “I feel like a different person now. But how did you know that this was what I needed?”

The old doctor turned to his desk and picked up his open Bible. It was worn and marked, and showed that it had had much use. “Martha,” he said earnestly, “reading the Bible is my greatest source of strength and skill. I never go to perform an operation without first reading my Bible. And whenever I have a difficult case, I find help from reading its pages. When I saw how nervous and distressed you were last month, I realized that you did not need any medicine that I could give you. But you needed a source of peace and strength outside of yourself. Therefore I gave you the prescription that I use for myself, for I knew it would work. God blesses the reading of His Word.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Martha said slowly, “I must admit that I almost didn’t follow your advice, but your words made my conscience speak. It had been years since I read my Bible or prayed. How comforting it was to read that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of the Lord! I believe that the Lord is also teaching me that I must look to Him for all my needs, not only for the outward ones, but also for the needs of my lost soul.”

“Would you believe,” replied the doctor, “that very few of my patients are willing to try this prescription? But I know that if many of my difficult cases were willing to turn to their Bibles, they would find the comfort and encouragement that you have found.” Finding the place in his open Bible the doctor continued, “God’s own Word tells us this in Psalm 19:7-11:

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is Thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

“One of my patients once used the excuse that he stopped reading the Bible because it was too deep for him. He said he could never memorize or remember what he had read anyway. But I told him that it’s like putting a woven basket under water. No matter how deep the water, when the basket is lifted out, it immediately empties. Yet as the water runs out, it cleanses the basket. So it is with ’the washing of water by the Word’; as we read in Ephesians 5:26.”

The doctor in this story has passed away, but his prescription lives on. What a blessing it would be if we, by God’s grace, would look to the heavenly Physician who knows what we need before we ask!

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