Episode 33 of The Living Life Well Show: Live by Faith not by Sight
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life Well Show, the intersection of God's Word, today's science, and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the Word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth. All right. Welcome back to the living life. Well, show today. I want to talk about. Living by faith, not by sight. Right. So in today's world, that is basically just non-existent right. So we live in culture today that says that you don't implement or do anything. Until you really know what it is or isn't going to do for you.
Right. So we really apply this to healthcare and that's really how we look at things. We call it evidence-based medicine, [00:01:00] right? So we do all the double blind blinded randomized trials and do all these things to really explain to the inth detail, how something is or isn't working. And , we in the healthcare community have become very dependent upon this type of trial.
We, we really hold this trial up as kind of the holy grail, if you will, of clinical trials. Randomized double-blinded. Placebo controlled trial. When we look at experiences and, or say a case report. That would be the least amount of evidence of something working. That would be either a curious, finding unusual disease process that is documented or an unusual cure in this case, in the realm of healing. That has occurred.
And so there's a big continuum there as well. Right. And you know, living by [00:02:00] faith and not by sight seems absolutely ridiculous when you take it in the context of medicine in your health. Because, You need facts, you need data, you need information to know really how to move forward.
So that is how we really live today. Just in general we want to know something, so we Google it. We go and look at data. We typically. Maybe we'll ask a friend or someone we know that's knowledgeable in the area that we're trying to get information from. You want a reputable source.
The medical community has been considered that for years and years, we've been considered a very reputable source. The physicians. That you're going to the nurses, the now nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the last 30, 40 years. That you're seeing you put a lot of trust and faith, [00:03:00] if you will. And them, and faith is very important.
And what you are basing that faith on is they're training. Their study their knowledge base, well, they have been basing their knowledge, their training, and their study through all these different clinical trials and the data and the education that they were brought up in which again are all based on evidence-based medicine.
Well, what I will tell you is evidence-based medicine is really kind of a ridiculous at this point. We have so many studies that are funded. By the drug companies, themselves, or shells of the drug company to promote a sign of unbiased. However, That is very difficult to tell the markers that they use relative risk versus absolute risk.
Ah, Reduction when you're looking at different interventions. Again, [00:04:00] very difficult to Wade through as a lay person and even as a physician, quite honestly. And really understand how well something is or isn't being effective. So what we need to do is as Christians we are called in 2 Corinthians 5:7 to live by faith, not by sight. So we live in the hope and trust and promises of God, as opposed to what we can see. Well, I can tell you personally, I've seen this very many times in my life and quite honestly, I've just seen that even today was something that I'd been praying for.
Didn't see a way through or around. That was obvious to me. Definitely not in my own power. But yet. It was provided in and has come through and was exactly. What I was wanting and needing. And when. We are able in those rare moments in [00:05:00] life, too. Truly live by faith and not by sight. We see those benefits. Come through.
An example comes to mind in a second Kings.
So second Kings gives us really two back to back. Great examples of living by faith and not by sight. So a lot of times the things that, you know, We seem to need to implement seem kind of basic and ridiculous when you're talking about, health and we talk about diet and lifestyle quite a lot.
So really all I need to do is eat a little better. All I need to do is exercise a little bit more seems. Very basic and kind of, really almost seemingly unintelligent in a sort of manner. So we see this play out. Really in second Kings five, when Naaman and comes to be cured of his leprosy.
So if you don't know the story of [00:06:00] Naaman I would encourage you to read it. And second Kings five, but basically the issue is as he was army commander. God actually was working through him. And was really blessing the king of a Aram a rival nation. Through this man. Naaman, but Naaman had leprosy and he had seen all the people there couldn't cure.
It even went to the king of Israel by command from the king of Aram. To seek out healing and the king of Israel's reaction was tear his robes and sent him away. But Elisha heard about this asked that, that Naaman come to him. So Naaman comes, but Elisha doesn't even come out to see. Elisha sends his servant out. And says, Hey, look, you just need to go wash in the Jordan river. And so Naman is pretty incense that A he's not being seen by the person who was sent to see. And B [00:07:00] that this ridiculous seemingly trivial act. Needs to be done for him too. Receive healing doesn't make any sense.
He starts to head off and leave. And his, , servant's actually. Talked a little sense into him. He's like, , Naaman man, , Guys asking you to do something really easy, right? He's asking you. Just to go take a bath. Okay. It's not, , hard and , in Nayman's mind, it can't be that easy.
Right? It's gotta be something that it fits more in line with his personality, his qualifications some type of heroic type act. That would need to be done for him to be quote, worthy, to receive healing. Healing right. So Naaman, is just generally mad. He's like, okay, why is it even this dirty Jordan river?
We got way better rivers. Why couldn't I have just washed there? Why did I have to come all the way here to get told to take a bath? Well, [00:08:00] not only I was told to take a bath when he was told to to wash in the Jordan and wash seven times. So there were some very specifics to what it was that he was supposed to be doing. Well, if you know the story Naaman washes he ultimately goes and washes.
Now what his mindset was when he did that, whether he was truly trusting and believing that was going to work or not, I don't know. But. Regardless. He did what he knew he was told, would result in health and life. And so he went and he did that and that's exactly what he achieved.
Right. He went there, he washed and lo and behold. He is now completely well cured of leprosy cured of this disease that had kept him out of normal society, normal places, even though he was very high functioning and at a high level, [00:09:00] now he could participate in all facets of society.
So that's example one. So example two is just really the next chapter over in chapter six. What is going on here is the king of Aram is threatening Israel and going to attack Israel. And Israel is always one step ahead. Israel seems to know exactly what's going on. Well, basically what was happening is God was telling Elisha Elisha was then telling the king of Israel. And so Israel was always one step ahead.
Well, the king of Aram. Basically figures this out and decides that he's going to surround Elisha and really take it to. Elisha. So they find out where Elisha is living. And so Elisha is now surrounded by the king of Aram and Elisha servant is there [00:10:00] and sees this and is obviously just. Very fearful naturally.
When you walk out and you see. This army there. To kill you really? There it's a manhunt that they have come just to kill your boss and you gotta figure that you're not gonna escape from this either. And so he's obviously very frightful, but Elisha is pretty calm, cool, and collected. And so he asked God to open the eyes. Of. Elisha servant. His eyes are open to the supernatural.
And what he sees is he sees the army of God surrounding them, protecting them. That their army that is protecting them as much more than the force that her Aram has sent to really destroy Elisha. And goes on where Elisha. Praise [00:11:00] for blindness. For the army and sends them off to some area, but the point is. Is that. He couldn't see what was going on in the supernatural that through Elisha's faith.
He was able to be assured of that. He knew that even while. He wasn't. Sure of the outcome. He was sure of the provision and the protection. The servant really wasn't in on this but now his eyes are open because he was believing what he was seeing, but was not living through faith. So I think that's what happens to us a lot within the. The healthcare community.
We think, you know, something sounds good. This sounds right at sounds like it's helping the study looks like it's good, but. It just really, , in the long term, Doesn't really fit. [00:12:00] And so we can take those simple principles to God's word. We're seeing more and more, the way God has told us to eat is really.
The way to eat, you know, you can start all these diets and you can lose weight.
You can get some short-term gains and those things, but over time, what we see is that they become ineffective because either they're so restrictive, you can't. You can't possibly stick to it. Or be it has secondary consequences. And is causing liver issues or kidney issues and different things.
So we really have to learn that the word of God is good in all things. So this even filters through when we are looking at studies to find out the appropriateness of implementing the either. Technique be in a surgery. Procedure per se. And, or the lifestyle intervention or a drug for that fact [00:13:00] whatever the case is, we want to filter that through the word.
So we want to filter that through what truth we can find it. And it's difficult to find nowadays really to. Finding out if there is true bias or not. Is this a independent study? Really being a fuel by the drug company or the manufacturer of the device or. Whatever the case may be.
And so really finding truth can be difficult, but what we can stand on is God's word and his truth and what he tells us. On a daily basis, even when we are trying to achieve healing, no matter what the issue is, be it cancer. Be it. Be it. Diabetes be it auto immune disease whatever.
The case is God's word provides healing steps for us to take just like Naaman and did just like Elisha knew to do because he was living by faith and not by sight. [00:14:00] And the two examples of Naaman and Elijah is quite a contrast, right? Naaman seemingly complied with obedience. Not really. Probably even believing in what the outcome was going to be. But Elisha very much had the laid back attitude because his complete trust and all was in God.
So at different times in our life, we are going to operate as a Naaman or as an Elijah. Sometimes you're going to do things that seem absolutely ridiculous that God's told you to do or a way to, to get, well, that may seem just absolutely ridiculous, but kind of lines up with God's word. And it can't be this easy. And you may not trust and you may do it and see that you're going to have blessing. Or you may have complete supernatural. Experience like with Elijah, where he had his trust and attitude and focus. [00:15:00] Fully on God and God allowed his every request, even in the moment to be granted.
So the more we can live like Naaman and Elisha. The more, we are going to see that healing and more that we can cut through. All the noise that we see out there to really see truth for what it actually is and where it actually is, as opposed to all the confusing details that are out there when you're trying to seek health for yourself.
I hope this has been encouraging in some way and hopefully. Uplifting. I pray that it is. And thanks. And God bless.
That's it for this episode of the Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more, or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. [00:16:00] Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying, go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services.
If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific concerns.
