The fear that grips your heart over failing eyesight and frail health is itself a sickness, but there is a Physician who heals both soul and body. You say you are worried and scared, yet have you not found that this very anxiety unfits you to meet the difficulty you dread? It weaves no useful garment, it stores no grain in the barn; it only casts a shadow where faith should kindle a light. If you are indeed a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then play the man and let your faith overcome your fear. Obey that gracious word which bids you cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. That burden which you roll upon yourself will crush you, but rolled upon the Lord, it is as nothing. Why say, “I am sick,” as though the sickness were the whole story, when we are on our way to eternal health?
Healing lies alone in Jesus, the one sacred Tree of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Do not look to your feelings as a warrant for trust. If you say, “Lord, I cannot trust You unless I feel better, unless my sight clears,” then you make a god out of your sensations and a savior out of your inward griefs. When the lepers were sent on their way, they had to start walking before the healing came, acting on Christ’s bare word. Trust Him as you feel your sight dimming and you shall yet see His goodness. Trust Him as you sink and you shall swim. He is able to do this; He can restore, preserve, and at last perfectly heal these mortal frames.
“Fear not,” He whispers. It is not merely the preacher who cries it, but Jesus Himself who stands by His poor, trembling servant and says, “Fear not.” It would be disobedience to remain in the grip of this terror. Fear dishonors God; it questions whether the arm which piled the heavens and sustains the pillars of the earth can truly support your little case. You feel like a worm, and indeed that is what the Lord calls His Jacob, yet to that very worm He says, “Fear not; I will help thee.” The shadow of His wings is your refuge until these calamities are passed over. Be merciful unto me, O God, is the right cry, but let it spring from a soul that trusts in You.
Lay your case before Him now. Waste no time in applying to this Physician of souls. Hasten to Him with words like these: “Jesus! Master! hear my cry! Save me, heal me with a word.” He links the healing with His own teaching, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Hear Him say to your trembling heart, “Man, your sins are forgiven you,” for first forgiveness, then healing, is often His blessed order. The power of sin that brings this inward whirlwind of fear can be broken by the same hand that restores the body. Trust His hands, pierced for you; rest in His heart, smitten with a spear. He rejects none who yield to Him. Yield this fear, this sickness, this threatened blindness into His keeping now. Only trust Him. Only trust Him now.