A four-inch blade stuck in your head

I have a television in my dorm room that gets about 15 stations (5 of which are televangelists).  The main purpose of this television is for movie watching and catching a few minutes of the news as I get ready for my day or get ready for bed.  Last night I happened to watch as a fairly shocking news story graced my television screen. 

The news story was about a man who was stabbed by a knife during a burglary.  He walked away from the event with a few bruises, and (what he thought was) a minor stab wound in the back of his head.  Over the next four years (yes, FOUR years), this man suffered from headaches.  When he finally went to the doctor to get these headaches checked out, the doctor did a routine x-ray and found a four-inch blade stuck in his head. 

The fact that this man did not suffer from more severe ailments and that he did not even realize the severity of the stab that was taken at the back of his head is truly a miracle.  Can you image having a four-inch piece of metal jammed in your head and not even knowing about it?!  What a shock to finally find out.

I have some minor issues in my life.  You know what I’m talking about- those little anxieties that seem to pop up on occasion, or those sinful desires that sneak in every once in a while.  After watching this news story, I began to wonder if there is a bigger, more significant reason why I have these problems.  There were no obvious signs of this man’s problem (aka: the blade jammed in his head).  Similarly, there may not be any obvious signs about the problems in our own lives.  Sometimes we just get spiritual “headaches.”

But are those “headaches” actually the result of something more like a four-inch blade in our spiritual lives?  If you are experiencing some chronic spiritual ailments, maybe it’s time to take a trip to God for one of those routine check-ups.  Let God search your life for a possible dagger. 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).

Let God search you and test you.  Let him remove that dagger.