PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

May3, 2023

DO NO HARM

Hippocrates is generally recognized to be the father of medicine.  He lived in the fifth century B.C. in Greece.  For him a physician first strives to do good and also to do no harm.  What brought Hippocrates to mind was my visit to the local Lowe’s last Thursday.

I had been to Lowe’s several times before and everything went smoothly.  I wore a mask and had gloves.  The store was not overly crowed so it was easy to maintain social distancing.  The check-out person was in a protective shelter and she wiped down the counter and credit card machine when I left.  When I got home I made sure to wash my hand thoroughly and did not remove my purchases for several hours in case they might have gotten infected.

Last Thursday the garden center entrance that I had previously used was closed.  The construction entrance could only be used to exit.  In front of the main entrance there was a chute in front of the entrance door with a line of people waiting to get in.  My guess is that they were limiting the number of customers to be in the store at any one time.  I know that Walmart was doing this.  If they were trying to improve their precautions against the Coronavirus, they failed.  None of the people standing in line wore masks and none were practicing social distancing.  Anyone going into the store could have caught the virus even before they entered.

In trying to improve their safety measures, Lowe’s would seem to have actually done harm.  To follow Hippocrates’ advice to do good and not to do harm is always a problem when trying to make public policies.  One can have the best of intentions when making a decision for the public good but completely be unaware of the unintended consequences that follow.  While the measures that have been put in place to combat the Coronavirus have been successful in helping the American people physically, it has proved to have negative consequences spiritually, emotionally, and intra-personally.  Sometimes the cure is as bad as the illness.

Given the gravity of the Coronavirus and the possible negative consequences of taking measures to combat it, what is one to do?  The experts keep up dating their projections and advice based on new data.  Every day they discover something new about the virus, how it spreads, and how to combat it.  Mitigation seems to be working.  However, when does our nation begin to open up its economy without harmful consequences?

In the third chapter of I Kings the Lord appears to Solomon and asks him what He might give him.  Solomon responds: “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” (I Kings 3:9)  Solomon prays for wisdom to rule wisely to do good and not evil (harm).  It seems that this might be an appropriate prayer for all of those having to deal with the Coronavirus Pandemic in any way.  It also might be a prayer that all of us might offer on their behalf.

While we are at it, we might also pray for ourselves that God might give us the wisdom to do our part to combat the virus and that He might give us an understanding heart, mind, and soul to physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally handle it.  All of us are on a learning curve.  No one has a lock on the truth.  This is no time to seek political advantage.

This article was originally published May 3, 2020.