The bloating of the body and the discomfort from the heat are real trials, and you do well to cast these burdens upon the Lord, for He cares for you. Yet remember, the body is but the tent, and soon it will be folded up; the soul is the treasure within. The medicines that bring relief in one way may bring distress in another, but our times are in His hands. It may be that if the Lord gave to His people all comfort at once, we might forget Him, or think the wilderness is our home. These very inflations of the belly and the sweltering days are permitted to drive us nearer to His side, where the shadow of the cross falls cool upon our feverish cares.
The blood of Jesus speaks better things than all our complaints. When the heart is tried by pain and the frame is weary, the blood of sprinkling is our abiding plea. Not your strong faith, not your patient endurance, but that precious blood alone secures your standing before God. That blood has quenched the wrath that sin kindled, and by it you are passed over in the day of judgment. Your present ailments cannot separate you from the love of Christ. Even if every drop in your veins should dance with affliction, the blood of the Lamb assures you that no weapon formed against you shall prosper, for your eternal peace is bought and sealed.
The heat wave will come and go at God’s bidding. He sends the sun and He can send the cooling breeze. Pray for it, but also trust Him if the heat lingers. The fire does not harm those who walk with the fourth man in the furnace. Learn to sing with those blood-washed ones who have passed through great tribulation, “We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Your robes, too, are washed there, and the present suffering is but for a moment. It is in the patience of the saints that the life of faith shines brightest.
Be on the Lord’s side in this trial. That means willing submission, not murmuring; it means believing that He who spared not His own Son will with Him freely give you all things needful. The side of unbelief looks at the swollen body and the fiery sky and says, “All is against me.” The side of faith says, “The Lord is my portion, therefore will I hope in Him.” Pray that the medicines may be removed when it is wise, but far more, pray that your soul may be so filled with Christ that the discomforts of the flesh seem small in comparison. The inner man, renewed day by day, can flourish even when the outward man perishes.
Fear not to trust the blood alone. Not your prayers, not your endurance, not your freedom from side effects, none of these can shield you from the wrath that sin deserves. But the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son, cleanses us from all sin. That blood has a voice that pleads beyond the clouds, and it will speak for you when you cannot speak for yourself. The enemy would have you fix your eyes on the swelling and the weather as if they were the measure of God’s love, but these are only the rough side of the road for a pilgrim. Look to the cross, and you shall see a love that outshines the sun.
Go forward, then, with a quiet heart. Pray for relief, but let your chief prayer be that you may glorify God in this body, whether by health or by its lack. The time is short; your eternal salvation draws near. Soon the tabernacle shall be folded away, and you shall stand among the blood-washed throng, with no more pain, no more heat, no more aching. Until that day, let the blood of the Paschal Lamb be upon the doorposts of your spirit, and let the destroyer pass you by in perfect peace.
