The strange events of the last three months have raised concerns I’ve never had before, living as I have in the freedom of the United States. I’ve written before about my surprise at how wearing a mask in public has made me feel diminished—almost invisible, but an even more alarming possibility has haunted me in quiet moments.
I’m sure my freak accident that broke my wrist and necessitated surgery has caused me to catastrophize, but there was something deeply disturbing about going to the surgery center that Friday to have my wrist set with a titanium plate—and not being able to have Richard go in with me. He had to drop me off at the door and wait somewhere within a ten minute’s drive away (he was able to wait at home).
Meanwhile, I had to be admitted through the locked front door where I was immediately presented with a mask and made to wait in a disheveled lobby with chairs at odd angles for social distancing. One other surgery patient was admitted while I sat watching the clock slowly progress for nearly half an hour while a morning show droned on the TV.
When I was finally called to the pre-op area, I waited for nearly an hour and a half, half-hidden behind my mask, until the surgeon was ready. After surgery, I woke up, still masked, while busy nurses moved between several patients, helping them become stable enough to go home. I didn’t see Richard until I was wheeled to the front door where he was waiting with the car.
Just over one year ago I had my knee replaced, and that process was much different. Richard and some close friends waited with me, and Richard was allowed to stay with me in the pre-op area until they were ready to take me to surgery. In fact, the hospital encouraged him to stay overnight with me in my room and even included his meals as an expected part of their post-surgical care.
As my arm has healed inside the blue cast protecting the bone and the titanium from external damage, I have pondered the sudden change in what people can expect if they become ill. It used to be that Richard and I could stay with each other if we had medical appointments—a feature that has given both of us comfort and a sense of having an advocate if something goes wrong.
During my night post-knee-surgery, for example, Richard was aware of things I don’t remember. He kept track of my pain levels and of the care they gave me. He could speak for me if I needed something and the nurse didn’t immediately see my need. In fact, the (very attentive) hospital staff wanted him there because his watchful eye helped them give better care, and I felt peaceful because his presence made me feel secure.
Thanks to this strange pandemic, however, getting sick or injured is a lonely and frightening prospect. From having been the family advocate for both Richard’s and my mothers over the years, I know how much the medical staff depends upon input from close family who know the patients. I know how even well-intentioned caregivers would have missed important things in the cases of our parents if Richard and I hadn’t been there to be sure their needs and sensitivities were clarified.
Today, however, if we get sick and need a hospital, we would go in alone, and we likely wouldn’t be able even to have the other visit much less stay with us and advocate for us.
Without a mediator
The dreadful realization that, given the current social distancing requirements, we could be hospitalized and alone in an emergency reminds me of the fear I had as an Adventist when I believed that a day was coming, during the dreaded Time of Trouble, when faithful Adventists would have to stand alone through unimaginable persecution without a Mediator.
When Jesus would finish His work of judgment, I learned, He would close the books and declare, “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” No one would know, of course, whether he was in the unjust category or the holy category until Jesus finally came back and ended the Trouble. We only knew that EGW said God would withdraw the Holy Spirit from the earth, and even those who were holy would have to endure persecution without God’s help. It would be up to their perfected characters to face suffering alone.
You can imagine my joy and amazement when I finally realized that Hebrews 7:25 says this about Jesus who “holds His priesthood permanently”: “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
There will NEVER be a time when born-again believers will have to stand without an intercessor! The Holy Spirit will never be taken from us, and the Lord Jesus holds a permanent, eternal priesthood. He intercedes for us forever! We never have to rely on our own perfected characters to endure suffering or persecution. Jesus Never Leaves Us!!
Never alone
The lie of Adventism that we must perfect our characters and ultimately endure untold persecution without the help of our Triune God crushes all hope. We all knew, as Adventists, that we were unlikely ever to be perfected enough to stand on our own or be righteous enough to get to heaven. The hopeless terror of facing the end times without a mediator was crippling, and we all intuitively knew that if Ellen’s scenario were correct, we would be doomed.
But Ellen was wrong! Scripture tells us that Jesus “always lives to make intercession for us”. There is never a moment when we are alone.
Even that day I had to walk into my surgery without any advocate or support, the Lord Jesus was with me. Furthermore, I know He was with me, because He kept me calm. Being calm at such a time is not typical for me, but He held my emotions and kept me objective—and Richard texted me throughout the wait.
The future is unknown and seems to be changing rapidly, but we know for sure one central reality: we have a Mediator—“the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time” (1 Tim. 1:5, 6). We will never have to face fearful times alone—even if we are physically kept from one another.
Jesus never leaves us, and nothing can take us out of His hands. We are His, and He protects us and holds our hearts even when life surprises us. We always have an advocate! †
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