The sickness of the body and the storm of anxiety that troubles you, these are not merely physical ills. They are the scourge that the devil uses against those who are caught up in the clay of worldly cares. Every day we toil in that brickmaking, building for a bitter master, and we are scourged with far more grievous stripes than any whip leaves on the flesh. For by how much the soul surpasses the body, by so much does anxiety surpass the weals of the body. You cry out for healing and deliverance, and it is right that you do so, for our God is the great physician. But when He touched the paralytic, He first healed the hidden sickness of the soul, and only then the body, saying, "Thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." So I charge you: examine your conscience. The fever of the body often arises from the fire of sin, and God permits the lesser part to be chastised so that the better part, the soul, may receive healing. This is not cruelty, but the care of a surgeon who applies the knife to a putrid sore to save the patient.
Do not, therefore, merely ask to be freed from the pain, forgetting the cause. Groan, look up to God, and He will send not Moses, nor Aaron, but His own Word, and holy compunction. Let that Word take hold of your soul, and it will deliver you from the bitter slavery of unprofitable zeal, from the mire of anxious thoughts. The sword of the Spirit works first by stripping us of our false confidence, and then brings us to true health. Perhaps the healing will come at once, as when Christ touched Peter's mother-in-law and restored her perfect strength in an instant, leaving no weakness behind. Or perhaps it will tarry, and the fever will depart only gradually. If it delays, do not despair. I have known many who heard the word of healing ten times and remained unchanged, yet at the eleventh hearing they brought forth abundant fruit, as a tree that falls at last from many blows unseen at the root. The delay is not denial; it is the tilling of the soil for deeper root.
Cast off, then, the softness and the carelessness that choke the seed of the word. It is not enough to want deliverance from anxiety; you must cultivate fortitude and contempt for all worldly things. For what profit is it to have a calm body if the soul remains spinning in the mire of earthly fears? If you are free from pain yet remain unmanly and remiss in hearing the word, no part of salvation can stand. The body is a member of a far greater body, the body of Christ, and if one member suffers, the whole is weakened. Therefore, bring your suffering to the Church, the community of all believers, and find there the healing that flows from the head, Christ himself.
Stand firm. The lips of the tempter drop honey, but they turn to gall and a two-edged sword. Do not let anxiety drive you back into the slavery of Egypt. Instead, let the recollection of Christ’s word be your constant medicine. Sin no more, and though the fire of hell is fearful to contemplate, that very fear can be the file that sharpens your resolve. Look not only to the body’s ease, but to the eternal crown. If the complete healing does not appear today, it is not that the physician lacks skill, but that He knows the sickness needs a longer cure. Keep crying out, keep hearing the word, and you shall find that you are being freed from bitter slavery, brought forth from the Egypt of unprofitable zeal into the true health that no anxiety can touch.