Expedite

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6, NIV 2011).

I got a call at midnight. My father had fallen and was in pain. When I arrived at his home, the EMT was there. My dad was alert but holding his shoulder close to his side. It was likely broken. He had stumbled in the bedroom and fallen to the floor in the middle of the night.
We took the late night drive to the ER and settled in a room to begin his evaluation. After about 30 minutes a tech rolled a wheelchair into the room.
“I’m going to take him for a shoulder X-ray, a neck X-ray and a CT scan of his brain.”
I spoke as kindly as I could, “He does not need a head CT or neck X-Ray. He did not strike his head; he’s had recent MRIs and his neck is fine.”
A bit flustered, the tech left the room, later returning, “The doctor said we can just get the shoulder X-ray.”
Eventually the doctor came in to examine my father and excused the earlier CT order by saying, “We heard he was old and confused and we just wanted to move things along.”
Reflecting on the experience, I realized my concern had not been so much the unneeded X-rays as it was the doctor ordering them without examining the patient, just so he could “move things along.”

How often do we place God at the back end of our decision-making?
How often do we move ahead with major decisions and leave Him out until our own way runs out of juice?
Expedite is an important word for us as healthcare professionals as we move through multiple complex decisions with many patients at the same time. But expedite may also enter our Christian decision-making and muddle things up.
How often do we expedite decisions without inviting God to examine the situation: impulsive buying, impulsive relationship decisions, even ministry decisions that we expedite by using a good business model?
There is so much knowledge God has and we don’t.
There is so much wisdom God has and we don’t.
The Lord God “who is and who was and who is to come…” (Revelation 1:4, ESV).
And we just sort of forget to invite Him into the discussion so that we might “move things along.”
Let’s change.
As Oswald Chambers put it, “When you reckon things up, bring God in as the greatest factor in your calculations.”

Dear God,
Let me ever know that you are the true source of knowledge and wisdom. Let me always take the time to invite you into my decisions.
Amen