He looked so sad when I first saw him. He was quite a few years older than I, but like I did during my first days in that impersonal hospital ward, he felt scared and worried.
My bed was on the other side of the room, but I gave him a reassuring smile.
“It will be all right.”
But he turned away, closed his eyes, and pretended he was asleep.
A hospital is a strange place. All patients are on the same level; everyone faces a common enemy—fear. What’s wrong with me? Will I get better? Will the operation be successful?
Later that day, I again tried talking with my fellow patient. I’d already been there for nearly two weeks and was starting to feel like a veteran.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
He looked so despondent, I almost felt bad I had asked. Then he softly answered: “I was going on holiday. Car was in front of the door. I went to use the bathroom one last time. That’s when I saw the blood …”
He fidgeted with the hospital sheet. “And now I’m here instead of in a hotel in France with my wife. I feel like jumping out of the window.”
Right then the doctor stepped in with a solemn face and told my new friend: “Mr. Williams, your surgery is scheduled for first thing tomorrow.”
When the doctor left, I could tell he was in the depths of despair. He didn’t want to talk anymore and pretended to be asleep again.
Suddenly I felt the nudge of God’s Spirit.
Write a few verses from Psalm 91 on a card and give it to him before he goes to surgery.
Psalm 91? What if he doesn’t believe in You, Lord?
Just do it!
So I did. The nurse gave him the card the next morning before wheeling him out.
The operation was a success.
And so was the card. When I talked to him the next day, he said: “Thank you so much for those wonderful words. They gave me so much strength. Did you write that?
“No,” I answered, “God did. They’re from the Bible.”
“Amazing…” he mumbled, then he smiled. “Maybe I need to read that book for myself.”
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.—Psalm 91:3–4
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Romans 12:12 ESV / Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Romans 15:13 ESV / May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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