“I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help… He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me (Psalm 18:3-6a,16-19).”
Margaret McPherson is in the hospital because she has been vomiting. In this medical facility, she gets the privelege of getting treated by the best diagnostic team around: the doctors of the medical drama “House”.
The characters in this show are loaded with dysfunction. I guess this just shows they are real people.
Dr. Foreman is an African-American physician with a superiority complex. Dr. Chase is a good-looking Australian who is being accused of hiring a beautiful new doctor for less than pure motives. Said doctor, Kelly Benedict, is like all the other doctors on the team, not above lying and deceitfulness to make herself look good.
Then there is the good Dr. House himself. He is the father of all dysfunction. He is only mellowing because he has a new love, hospital administrator Lisa Cuddy. Yet, he still has a streak of on-the-edge immorality.
As the episode develops, it becomes clear that the new doctor is not up to task. House tests her, as he does with all new hires, and she is found wanting.
At the end of the show, Dr. Benedict tells Dr. Chase that she is going to quit before she House fires her. Chase could keep her on because he has House’s permission, but he says nothing about this because she mentions to Chase that she now can see him socially. (Dr. Benedict doesn’t date colleagues, she says).
Chase indeed might have had wrong motives in hiring the beautiful Dr. Benedict. However, she goes for him now because, as she put it,”you had my back.”
One person that doesn’t have Margaret McPherson’s back is her relatively new husband Billy. When he learns that she has changed her identity and been hiding her mental illness from him, he considers dumping her.
Billy asks Dr. House,”What do I do now?”. House knows what he is getting at, but in typical Housian fashion, he tells him that they will put her on drugs and her illness will be controlled.
Billy pushes on with his meaning. “This isn’t the person I married.” House tells Billy it the good doctor’s problem, but sarcastically adds that if he is looking for a reason to dump his wife, he has one: she’s mentally ill.
Billy retorts,”But it’s hard.” House replies,”It’s always hard”, and walks away.
In the end, Billy rejoins his wife in her room. One is left to wonder if their relationship has a future, however, because of Billy’s attitude.
The storyline of this recent airing on “House” makes me glad that there is indeed someone who has m own back. I am talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is aware of my own dysfunction and failings. Jesus knows my every move and my every sin. Yet, because I keep running back to Him, he sticks with me through thick and thin.
As late as this morning I prayed earnestly for God to help me in my own dysfunction. As a new day dawned, the truth that His mercies are new every morning hit home as I was hit by the crisp fresh air walking to my car.
It is clear that there is a person out there that hates me and wants to destroy me. I am referring to Satan, the roaring lion and accuser of the brethren.
Jesus has authority over him, though, and uses it. Once he was being arrested by an unruly mob led by his former disciple Judas. Satan had entered Judas that night to bring about Jesus’s demise.
When Jesus asked the mob who it was they were looking for, they told him they wanted Jesus of Nazareth.
The apostle John has recorded what happened next:
” ‘I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.
Again he asked them, ‘Who is it you want?’
‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they said.
Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.’ This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: ‘I have not lost one of those you gave me (John 18:5-9).’ ”
Jesus had our back. When Satan attacks, they know Him and bow before Him. He and his cohorts don’t stand a chance if we let Jesus watch our backs. He is there to watch out for us and help us in our need. He won’t let us be lost to the Evil One.
What blows my mind is not just that Jesus helps me when the devil tries to drag me down. What really astounds me is that Jesus rescues me because He takes great pleasure in me.
Jesus is not some reluctant husband or selfish physician looking out for number one. He truly does love, care for and enjoy me. That’s why I can depend on Him to come through in the fight against Satan.
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