God Is A Surgeon

I prayed for last week to happen. Well, I didn’t pray for that exact thing to happen: my son in a car with a drunk driver. But this “friendship,” my son had with the boy who got caught really bothered me. Every time my son left to go with the “friend,” I began praying for him.

He was a neighborhood friend. Their family moved out of our neighborhood a few months ago, and I thought that was the end of my son seeing this kid. But it wasn’t. The kid kept calling my son and asking him if he wanted to go to the beach. My son can’t resist the beach. He loves the beach and he loves surfing. So off my son would go and my heart would grow heavy and I would start praying.

I made comments to my son about the boy. I said I didn’t like him hanging out with him. My son’s cousin stayed with us, and my son and the “friend” went out with my nephew. My nephew quietly reported to his mom, that he didn’t like this boy. He was mean to my nephew AND mean to my son. I told my son what his cousin had said, so he wasn’t allowed to hang with the “friend” while the nephew was visiting us.

Now, since the incident last week, my son knows he’s not to see this kid ever again. I asked my son if he learned anything and he said, “Yeah, I need to get better friends.” Well that’s an understatement.

God is so exact. God’s work in our lives is like a surgeon. He goes in, with a scalpel, and very carefully cuts only that thing that needs to be cut out. God’s work is precise, smooth and perfect. He removes those things or people in our lives, just like a surgeon would. There is no extra cutting. Like a surgeon, He only removes that bad thing. Nothing more. God’s work in our lives is not a bulldozer, where it’s loud and noisy and knocks us down and runs over the top of us. Picture a surgeon at work, cutting into someone’s body. His hands are steady. He takes a small, very sharp scalpel and goes in very carefully, only to cut out that one thing. The work of a surgeon is careful, precise and afterwards, the patient should be better.

God took that “friend” out of my son’s life with a sweep of His hand. That boy can’t drive anymore. My son is not allowed to see him anymore, even if he could drive. My son has no desire to see the boy. Just like that, the problem is gone. God spared my son’s life and body by not allowing the boy to get very far in the car before he was pulled over by the police. My son was able to get a ride home with another friend.

My son wasn’t hurt in an accident. The “friend” was whisked away in a police car, to spend the night in jail. He’s twenty, so he’s officially an adult, though he’s still under legal drinking age. But like I said, just like that, the “friend” is out of my son’s life.

So, don’t get me wrong. I did not pray for my son to get into a car with a compromised driver, and hope they got pulled over by the police. I did pray for God to work in my son’s life, that he would follow God and do what is right. My son learned a hard lesson. And God, the surgeon, cut out the bad thing that needed to be cut out. That’s how God works in all believer’s lives. God is the gentle surgeon.