The Decay Squad

I could have bought my husband a really nice new recliner—not the type seen here!-- for the check I had to write at the dentist’s office recently. Tagged onto my routine cleaning was re-doing an old (30-year-old?) filling that had cracked and was showing decay around the edges. Sure enough, by the time the dentist blasted it out, there was more decay underneath. What I couldn’t see or feel, he discovered and repaired.

I thought of a verse that addressed some difficult situations I found myself in lately: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently” (Galatians 6:1).

It’s tricky, it really is.  One of those situations involved someone’s willful plunge into adultery and a spurning of pastoral counsel. The other involved other types of willful behavior that bring shame to the name of Jesus. Neither wanted to hear or heed godly wisdom.

In frustration, I did what I need to do every time: go to scripture for guidance in praying. This time it came from Psalm 19.  After layering one splendid analogy after another to describe God’s Word, David concluded:

By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors?  Forgive my hidden thoughts.

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless, innocent of the great transgression. (Psalm 19:12-13)

My dentist’s trained eye and his X-ray machine helped to see what I certainly couldn’t. They discerned the “errors” of my dental habits and aging process that threatened a helpful part of my body.  (Yes, teeth are good.)

 Oh, there’s the teeth-cleaning part, too.  When my hygienist scrapes, grinds, picks, and polishes my “ivories,” she’s keeping decay from ruling over me. Oh yes, I get the “reminders” of flossing and such, and my “willful” sin is not doing it daily. (There, I confessed.)

I’m grateful for my dental team (though, without insurance, every visit has an extra “ouch”).  I’m also grateful for my Bible, which, like a toothbrush and floss getting into the dental crannies, encourages and exhorts me toward a God-honoring life.