"A Bad Tooth Wears On You."

"A Bad Tooth Wears On You."

By:  Rev. Jack Schneider

“To Adam He said, ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you…until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken.’”  [Gen.3:17,18, NIV]

A bad tooth wears on you. It’s not my practice to place blame, but in this case it’s small consolation that I know Adam is the reason I had such a painful week. There’s no fun in nursing an abcessed tooth and waiting to get in for a root canal so, by the time my dental appointment rolled around, I was ready to walk up to Adam at the Last Day and tell him “Thanks a lot for the misery of toothaches!” Three days after the repair I still resemble a chuffy-cheeked chipmunk and impatiently await the night I can sleep through without discomfort.

Yes, there’s a lot wrong in this world that can be laid at the feet of our fallen first parents, Adam and Eve. Scripture tells us that childbirth would be painful, cultivating crops and food would be sweaty, and that even death would rest upon us. Worse, the broken relationships are countless -- including family and marital struggles, the failure of simple courtesies between tribes and nations and, above all, the failure of relationship between Creator and created. And, while I can’t say I contemplated all this during my recent days of tooth misery, I can tell you the last thing I felt was the desire to be cordial and pastoral. That’s the result of sin from our ancestors, and it’s a carryover to every corner of our lives today.

“Who will deliver me from this wretched body of sin?”  Paul asked and answered this by the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Roman Christians. “Thanks be to God Who has given us the victory” in Christ Jesus. Yes, Adam and Eve certainly messed things up but it was also to them and through them that God delivered the promise of a Savior -- even the simple assurance that discovery and modern medicine could one day help ease the sufferings of this world.

Make no mistake, there’s only one cure for sin and separation from God; His name is Jesus, and it took great pain and suffering on His part at the Cross to bring us this peace. Yet we have every reason to praise God for what He accomplishes in our world through the compassionate hands of doctors and nurses, as well as researchers who tirelessly devote themselves to developing medicines and treatments that bring relief and hope to the ill. My prayer is that their efforts always keep in mind Who is the Creator, and who is the created. Without that distinction, it’s hard to know the difference between life and death.

“I will praise You, O Lord, as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.” [Ps.63:4]

- Jack