God's Medical Specialty

God has been called the Great Physician, and for good reason. 

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He took our infirmities and carried away our diseases. (Mt 8:17)

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I am the Lord, your healer. (Ex 15:26)

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O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. (Ps 30:2)

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Clearly, God's a pretty awesome doctor. But what is his medical specialty? With the progressive subspecialization of medicine, what department would Jesus best fit into?

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Let’s look at a few examples of his work:

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• Bleeding woman healed (Lk 8:43-48): Gynecology

• “Let the children come to me” (Mt 19:14): Pediatrics

• Blind Bartimaeus healed (Mk 10:46-52): Ophthalmology

• Peter's mother-in-law healed from her fever (Mt 8:15): Infectious Disease

• Malchus’ amputated ear reattached (Lk 22:51): Otolaryngology

• “He will wipe every tear from their eye” (Rev 21:4): Psychiatry

• Withered hand straightened out (Mt 12:13): Plastic Surgery

• Spine straightened (Lk 13:13): Orthopedics

• Jairus' daughter resurrected (Mk 5:41-42): Intensive Care? Hmm. Maybe this is beyond the scope of current medical capabilities.

As we can see, there’s a good argument for Jesus being an old school General Practitioner, since he practices such full-service, cradle-to-grave (i.e. “sperms-to-worms”) medicine. 

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However, to discover the specialty that is nearest and dearest to God’s heart – you know, before sin arrived in the world – we don't need to look any further than the beginning of the Bible, way back in the account of creation. Here we read:

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“[God] took one of [Adam’s] ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man.” (Gen 2:21b-22)

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From this, we might assume God has a special interest in Thoracic Surgery, or even Transplant Medicine. No doubt he used a thoracoscopic approach, given the reduced recovery time. However, even before this first-ever recorded surgery, are the following blessed words:

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“The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept.” (Gen 2:21a)

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Bingo. There’s our answer. God’s first (and therefore favorite?) medical specialty must be Anesthesiology. Let's explore this further. Consider the following rock-solid, un-arguable biblical evidence.

Anesthesiologists sit quietly behind the scenes, skillfully holding their patients' lives in their hands. How very godly! They own the market on the "breath of life" (Job 33:4). With inotropes and vasopressors (i.e. heart medications), they can make a heart do whatever they want (Pr 21:1) - just like God! Anesthetists are every laboring woman's favorite doctor, since a well-place epidural can drastically reduce the cursed "pain of childbirth" (Gen 3:16). So merciful. Much like Jesus, anesthesiologists are never in a rush, even managing to catch a quick nap when others are "straining at the oars" (Mt 8:24). Finally, they can instantly calm storms (i.e. anxiety) with a gentle word (and perhaps a smidge of medication).

See? As the Bible clearly shows us, the practice of Anesthesiology is near and dear to God's heart. It's certainly not the holiest specialty (who could ever be more "set apart" than a radiologist examining at X-rays in a dark room), but it's got to be God's favorite. I mean, how else could he maintain the respiratory and cardiac function for everyone on the planet simultaneously?

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God bless you, sleep doctors. God bless you.

© D. B. Ryen Incorporated, June 2021.