It stood about one foot high, an intricate composition of metal, glass, and plastic. A small mirror reflected light to illuminate a single eyepiece. It was my first microscope, my Christmas present from my parents, and initiated me on a journey that continues to this day.
My father helped me set it up and to my delight said, “Let’s go to the drainage canal and get something to look at!” I was intrigued and eagerly followed him as he knelt before the stream and collected a sample of water. Taking a medicine dropper, he placed a drop of the water on a glass microscope slide and carefully positioned a coverslip over it. Deftly adjusting the focus, he scanned the slide for a few seconds and found what he was seeking.
“Look at this, son!”
It was my first time using a microscope and I clumsily fumbled with it, eager to explore my new toy. My eye focused upon the image my father had isolated for me, two microbes were battling. “The smaller one is the paramecium and the larger one is an amoeba.” I marveled at my father’s knowledge. “Watch what happens!”
In a few seconds, the paramecium wandered into the pseudopod extensions of the larger amoeba and was engulfed by it. Like an animal caught in quicksand, it wiggled and writhed until it slowly began to disappear, digested by the amoeba. It was so much drama contained in a single drop of water! My senses were immediately expanded to appreciate the unseen world, to respect the possibilities that could be experienced beyond what my unassisted senses were able to perceive.
He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
2 Kings 6:16-17 (ESV)
The Syrian army was bearing down upon Israel, causing widespread panic because of fear of their impending slaughter. The prophet Elisha reassured the Israelites that God’s armies of angels were protecting all of them. It was a vision of the spiritual world, one which human eyes are only rarely given a glimpse.
When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I was introduced to the unseen spiritual world. As a physician, trained in the empirical sciences, I only placed my faith and trust in data and phenomena that I could verify and experience with my own senses. This was further reinforced when I became a pathologist. As I daily peered into a microscopic world and dissected an increasingly complex collection of cells and organelles, I was convinced that all the intricacies of life could eventually be understood, given the proper equipment and technology.
God, through His Holy Spirit, slowly changed my heart. I witnessed lives changed and relationships restored when all hope was abandoned. I experienced events in my life and in others that could not be explained by purely empirical reasoning but only by answered prayers to God. My spiritual eyes were open and I believed.
Our world is natural and supernatural, physical and spiritual. May we all see this world with spiritual eyes through faith and belief in Jesus Christ.
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
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