How often it is that bodily affliction is the messenger sent to summon us, and those we love, to the throne of grace. A foot laid low in a hospital bed becomes a voice crying out for the humbling of souls and the seeking of the healing hand that alone can restore. Let the infection of the flesh drive this precious friend, and all who love that friend, to the great Physician whose stripes are our remedy.
The proper attitude of prayer is prostrate before the Throne; in humility is our strength for supplication. When a limb throbs with pain and the frame is weakened, the soul is brought to the same lowly posture. It is in this very spot of felt weakness and need that the mightiest pleas are forged. That which humbles also encourages, for we can now say, “Lord, thou hast done so much for me; wilt thou not come again with thy saving health?” He who heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds attends also to these earthly vessels. Let us not be slow to cry out for bodily healing, for our Master speedily cared for bodily diseases when he walked among us.
Yet let this trouble point to a deeper wound. Sin is the festering evil that brings ruin upon our whole being, and the Word of God, applied by the Holy Spirit, is the only means of healing sin-sick souls. The Lord Jesus Christ is THE WORD OF GOD, sent to be the sinner’s Friend and Savior. Pray therefore that this hospital chamber become a holy of holies, where the physician of the body may be made to give way to the Savior of the soul, and where the vanities of the world lose all their savor.
I am urged by the Apostle’s beseeching to ask for prayer, and now I echo it back to you. Agonize together in prayer for this suffering friend. Do not merely mention the name, but let the soul sit upon the petition, like eggs in a nest, until it is hatched and brought forth living before the mercy seat. Plead the precious blood of the everlasting covenant, which has turned away the fierceness of divine anger. There is no ground for confidence but in the God who cannot lie, and in Christ the propitiation for our sin. Let this prayer be a simple, all-encompassing cry from the heart: “Lord, help me,” spoken on behalf of the one laid low.
This prayer also must be clean of hypocrisy. Put the whole weight of your intercession into it, seeking that the God of peace will be with that friend, and cause his face to shine. The Great Intercessor above spends all his time praying for his own; his prayer is the foundation of ours. Lean boldly upon his eternal priesthood. Let the answer bring forth such a song of praise in the congregation that his wonderful works to the children of men are declared, and God is exalted in the assembly of the elders for this very deliverance. So may it be, to the glory of his grace.