Ординатура / Офтальмология / Английские материалы / An instrument in Gods Hand_Vaughan_1999

An Instrument in God’s Hand

again rushed to the hospital, this time hanging on to life by a thread. In her hospital bed, Gertrude sensed that life was leaving her body and that this might be her last chance to respond to the Lord’s call. “All right, Lord,” she said, “I will do as You say. I will preach.”

Her body was so lifeless that the doctor could find no vital signs, so the sheet was pulled up over her head and her family was notified that she was gone.

All the hospital staff had left the room, and her cold body was alone. At that moment, in walked Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He walked straight to the side of Gertrude’s bed, reached over the bed rail and placed His hand on her still body. In that moment, life flooded into her with such energy that she jumped over the bed rail, ran out the door and down the hall. The nurse who had been taking care of her took one look at her and ran off screaming: “It’s a ghost! It’s a ghost!”

No one could believe what they were seeing. Gertrude had never walked as long as any of the hospital staff could remember her from her multiple visits. Now, suddenly, she needed her shoes. What a miracle God had done!

They kept Gertrude in the hospital for three days and did a whole series of tests on her, and every test showed that she was completely normal. During those three days, she walked up and down the halls of the hospital, and many other sick people were healed because of the faith her story inspired and the anointing God put on her life.

The thing I want you to see in all this is that it did not matter to God that Gertrude Ticer was a woman, poorly educated, unable to speak well, lacking Bible training, paralyzed, blind or even DEAD. He was able to overcome her every lack, her every inadequacy. All He wanted was A YIELDED VESSEL. It did not matter what the vessel looked like or what it had been through. He is not looking for ability; He is looking for availability.

You are surely in better shape than Gertrude Ticer was. She was

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Being a Repaired Instrument

dead when the Lord of Glory picked her up in His powerful hand and began using her. So stop focusing on your chips and dings and inadequacies. Focus on the Great Physician and yield your life, just as it is right now, into His mighty hand. He will use you!

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Being Held by an Unseen Hand

Chapter 9

Being Held by an Unseen Hand

Often I do surgery on closed-circuit television. All modern eye surgery is done through an operating microscope, and when a camera is mounted on the microscope, the picture can be seen on a TV monitor in the surgery suite (for staff members to view), or in the waiting area (for the family to watch). When someone views eye surgery in this way, all they can see are the eye and the instruments

The 0.12 mm toothed forceps in the surgeon’s hand

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An Instrument in God’s Hand

used to operate on it. They never see the hands holding the instruments because of the high magnification.

An eye is far too small and far too delicate to perform surgery on without using microsurgical instruments. But if someone viewing the procedure did not know better, they might come to the conclusion that the instruments were doing the surgery by themselves, since no human hand can be seen holding the instruments.

Looking at the TV monitor, you might see different kinds of forceps, some smooth and some with teeth, some rounded and some pointed. You might see an ultrasound instrument used to remove the cataract, as it does its job precisely. You might see various sizes and shapes of knives, each of them used for a specific task. Some of them are made of metal and some of diamond. You might see a variety of scissors, needle holders and needles. The parade of instruments goes on and on throughout the course of the surgery, and when each instrument has performed its task in conjunction with the others, the result is that an eye that was blind can now see.

Would we say of those instruments: “How smart they are! How skilled they are! How well they do their assigned task!” I think not. The truth is that mere instruments can do nothing on their own. They just happen to be what we can see. There must be a skilled surgeon holding the instruments, or they could not accomplish the task. Jesus said:

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING. John 15:5

We are just like those instruments. We can do nothing unless the Great Physician picks us up and uses us. Just because we are the ones being seen by the world does not mean we are the ones doing the work. We have no supernatural abilities of our own. We cannot

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Being Held by an Unseen Hand

make blind eyes see or crippled legs walk. When God chooses to use us as instruments to accomplish these miracles, therefore, all praise and glory must go to Him. He is the one doing the work.

We must make sure that the world around us (the viewers, if you will) understand this truth. All they see are the instruments on the screen of life doing the mending and healing, so we must make sure that they look, not to the instruments, but to the Great Physician who is holding the instruments.

I have never once had a patient come to me and say, “Please, could I see your instruments? I want to thank them for the good job they did on my eye.” Never! Patients always thank the physician who holds the instruments. In the same way, we must always pass the praise on to the One really doing the work — Jesus.

I once had a lady working for me whose husband, John, was very nearsighted. Despite the fact that I was doing surgery on literally thousands of people, ridding them of their nearsightedness, John never inquired about the surgery for himself. Other employees and their spouses had the surgery, but John never seemed interested.

Then one day, after several years had passed, John came in as a patient, and, much to my surprise, said he wanted surgery to get rid of his nearsightedness. I asked him why he had not asked for the surgery much earlier. He explained that he had had a recurring nightmare since childhood in which he was having eye surgery, and he went blind. Consequently, he was very frightened by the thought of the surgery and would never pursue it.

A few nights before his visit to me, he had another dream. In this dream, he saw himself as the patient on the table, having eye surgery, with me as the surgeon. He saw Jesus come over and put His hands on top of my hands and do the operation. When the surgical procedure was finished, Jesus went to the corner of the room. This totally changed John’s thinking about the surgery. Now he was

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An Instrument in God’s Hand

no longer afraid. He was, in fact, enthusiastic about having the procedure done as soon as possible.

John had the surgery, with an excellent result, and we were all glad that God had led him to that day with a dream. Needless to say, his experience changed my thinking about surgery too and emphasized to me that it is really Jesus doing the surgery. My role is only as a yielded instrument in His hand.

We must remember what Miss Kuhlman said: “There is really no limit to what God can do with a person, providing that one will not touch the glory.” If the instrument ever starts accepting praise for the works (i.e., touching the glory), he will soon be removed from the scene. God will not share His glory with anyone.

King Herod learned this lesson the hard way:

And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because HE GAVE NOT GOD THE GLORY: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. Acts 12:21-23

Even Jesus refused to touch the glory. He would always point to His Father as the Source of the words and the works. The Father was holding Jesus as an instrument in His hand:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF, but what he seeth the Father do. John 5:19

I CAN OF MINE OWN SELF DO NOTHING: as I hear, I judge.

John 5:30

I DO NOTHING OF MYSELF; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. John 8:28

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Being Held by an Unseen Hand

The words that I speak unto you I SPEAK NOT OF MYSELF: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

John 14:10

Just as God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, was the unseen Surgeon, doing the works in the life of Jesus, so He is still doing His works today through the Holy Spirit in us. We are the instruments seen by man, and we must continually give glory to the unseen God that holds us in His hand. Jesus said:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. John 14:12

The same Holy Spirit that worked through Jesus is working through us today, doing the works of the Father. We are a different set of instruments, created for a different day and time, but the unseen hands that hold us and use us with precision are the same.

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A Beloved Instrument

Chapter 10

A Beloved Instrument

I have a picture frame in one of my examining rooms that displays my letter to Miss Kuhlman, her letter to me, and a picture of her on the stage in a great conference in Jerusalem. Very often patients read those letters while waiting for me to come and examine them. One day, when I walked into that room, a patient commented to me that loving an instrument was a new concept to him. He was referring to my words about the 0.12 mm toothed forceps: “I love this precision instrument.”

My letter to Kathryn Kuhlman, her picture on stage in Jerusalem, and her letter to me.

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