The plea for deliverance from haunting memories of music and sounds, words and titles, this cries out for the mighty hand of Him who brought Israel forth from Egypt with silver and gold, and not one feeble among their tribes. These are the fiery darts of the wicked one, the arrows that fly by night, seeking to wound and defile the mind that Christ has cleansed. Yet remember, the very memory that torments can be transformed when the blood of the Lamb is applied. The joy of pardon makes us ignore the sorrow of the past. Our Lord Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and His deliverance is as complete for the mind as for the soul. When Satan brings an old song to remembrance, let the new song of redeeming love rise from your heart to drown it out. You are not captive to those echoes; the Son has set you free, and those chains have no more claim upon you than the dead Pharaoh upon a living Israelite.
Concerning the spread of measles and the hope for fewer cases and greater vaccination, we lift such concerns to Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. The leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations, and the very least thing about Christ carries healing virtue. We pray for wisdom for physicians, for the protection of the young, and for the removal of these afflictions. Yet bodily healing, precious as it is, points us to the deeper sickness of sin, and the one remedy found in the Great Physician. Whether this disease abates or not, may many learn to say, “The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.”
Then, the tender intercession for unnamed souls, a person, people in their life, a child, a woman. What music is this to the ear of the Almighty, when a trembling sinner prays for the salvation of others! You say, “save them,” and I hear the Father responding, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” You do not know their names, but He who counts the stars and calls them each by name knows them perfectly. Their deliverance from the power of darkness is as much the work of God as deliverance from its guilt, and He is able to translate them into the kingdom of His dear Son. It is a hopeful inference, indeed, that the God who inclines you to pray for them has purposes of grace already stirring in their hearts. Be not faithless, but believing; He hears such prayers and they rise like incense before the throne.
And for the desire that people might have opportunity to live longer, here is a prayer that strikes a note of deep solemnity. Length of days upon earth is a mercy when it is spent in serving the Lord, but the best life is that eternal life which knows no end. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. Whether the outward man perishes or is renewed for a season, the true extension of days is found in Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. Let it be that those who are spared from the grave might be spared for the glory of God, and that those whom He calls home fare no worse, but infinitely better, passing from the land of shadows into the presence of the King.
Cling fast to the promise: “Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” He will perform all this for you, for He is gracious in deliverance, and His clock of mercy is never slow.