Satan would paint a fearsome picture with your shoulder, while your gracious Lord stands ready to apply the balm of Gilead. How often the adversary whispers that this pain is too severe, that the joint is too worn, and that no remedy remains but the knife. You have done well to call him a liar to his face, for he has been a liar from the beginning. Yet faith does not always shake off the trial at its first command. Even Paul, that mighty apostle, had a thorn which buffeted him, and he besought the Lord thrice before he received the answer, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” So it may be with this shoulder of yours. The mountain is bidden to move, but it seems planted still. Be not cast down: the hearing of faith is not always sight; it rests upon the naked word of God. When Jesus healed, He often spoke a word only, and the work was done, but at times He chose to work by degrees, as with the blind man who first saw men as trees walking. The great Physician knows the best method for your soul’s schooling.
You have been healed before, bless Jehovah Rapha for that!, and the same hand that touched the blood pressure can touch the shoulder. The stripes of Jesus are not diminished in power; there is healing virtue in them for all manner of diseases. That shoulder gave you service, but now it aches; so did our own strength often fail us, and we learned to lean more heavily upon our Beloved. The over-the-counter remedies give some ease, but they leave the deeper need untouched. Your eyes are rightly set upon Jesus, the Tree of Life, whose very leaves are for healing. Take those leaves, dear friend, by faith. The promise is not that the leaf will be like a plaster to be felt immediately, but that it is there, ever fresh, for the nations. You are part of that healed multitude.
I rejoice that you count me worthy to pray with you. I shall do so, and not faint. But remember, even the weakest faith, if it be true faith fastened solely upon Christ, is precious. It may be so little that you say, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief,” and yet the Lord will not despise it. That little grain of mustard seed can upheave a mountain in due time. Let not the doctors’ words dismay you; they speak of what they see, but we see Jesus, who was raised from the dead and is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins, and healing for our mortal bodies, too, as He wills. If he should permit the replacement after all, then even upon that table you will be upheld. But until that hour, stand with your shield of faith lifted high, and when the pain shoots through the joint, answer it with the cry, “He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities: the chastisement of my peace was upon Him; and with His stripes I am healed.” That is healing for the conscience, and often for the body as well.
Spread this truth abroad in your own soul. When you lie awake, sing of the healing leaves; when you move the aching limb, trust the Physician who touched Peter’s mother-in-law and she arose and ministered. I pray that the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings for you, and that this trial shall become a throne of grace where you meet the Lord in peculiar nearness.