Several years ago I was working on a craft project with one of my daughters when my hand slipped and a pair of scissors went through the side of my finger.  The doctor who saw me in the emergency appeared to be more anxious about the injury than I was.  In place of simply suturing it and sending me on home, he kept prodding both inside and outside the finger with various pointed objects while asking if I could feel it.  He finally announced he needed to contact a neurologist. 

When the specialist arrived he confirmed what the emergency room doctor had suspected.  The scissors had caused extensive nerve damage.  Will it really be that big of an issue, I asked?   Even with a numb finger my hand will still work!    It was then the doctor informed me that without the feeling in that finger it was not only at a higher risk for further injury, I would have to relearn how to bend it or it would eventually “freeze”.  He then asked me to make a fist.  Surprisingly, my thumb did not go down.  As I looked at my hand, he explained that the brain does not tell the thumb to bend until it feels the neighboring finger close.  Of all the fingers to injure, he said, that is absolutely the worst one.  Regrettably the most I can offer you is to repair what I can then send you to rehab.  They can teach you to use it but you will probably never feel it again.

After twenty years in ministry, I have never forgotten what he told me that day.  While my finger has remained, and always will be, numb I have met countless people who have been so injured by life their souls are numb.  Their days are filled with nothing but sadness and despair.  Like my finger, nothing can be done about the damages they have already suffered.  But with hard work and prayer God stands ready to heal and teach them how to live again.

If you happen to be one of those people, I encourage you to read John 5:1-9.  It is there we find a story about Jesus healing a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years.  Before Jesus heals him, however, he asks one question:  Do you want to be well?  Like the man, if you answer that question “Yes”, all the powers of heaven will unite in order to make it so.