You bring a multitude of requests before God, and that is good, for He commands us to ask. But consider what the bent of your asking reveals. You seek a cooler home, an escape from the heat, swift appointments, and relief for your body. These are not evil things, for the body must be cared for. Yet watch, lest you demand them as a due, rather than entreating mercy. The Canaanite woman cried out for her daughter’s healing, and at first He answered her not a word. Whom would that not have offended? She approached Him not as one worthy, but merely told her affliction, and He seemed to repel her. Yet this was not an insult, but a call to reveal the treasure of faith laid up in her soul. So too, when your prayers seem unanswered, when relief is delayed, know that He is not denying you, but working a deeper healing: the rooting out of impatience and the strengthening of your trust.
Let not your prayer be merely for a cooler place to chill, as you say, but seek first a dwelling place in God, a shelter of the soul from the scorching passions. For what profit is a cool body if the heart burns with anxiety and complaint? Affliction, godly mourning, makes the heart wise. When we are not angry with those who seem to hinder us, when we do not rage against the delay, but answer with meek self-defense before God, we show a contrite heart. That is the prayer which accomplishes great things.
You ask for the right, God-fearing doctors. This is wise, for the word of the Lord, whether spoken or working miracles, demands our equal belief. Yet do not make your faith depend on the sight of a swift cure. The prophet said, “So then faith cometh by hearing.” The centurion did not demand a sign; he heard and believed. The blind man trusted the report of Christ, though he saw Him not. So you, amid so many appointments, must hold fast to the report of the Gospel: that He is the Healer, even when the fever of a heat wave or the congestion in your lungs persists. The delays, the crowded schedules, are not random. They are strokes against the tree of your self-will, preparing for that one blow which will at last bring it down in fruitful submission.
Do not be a careless hearer of this word. If we come before Him only to list our needs and go away bearing nothing but wonder at the preacher, we risk the condemnation of those who heard yet bore no fruit. Heal my lungs, you cry. Yes, ask for this, but also ask Him to clear the infection of sin which clings closer than any phlegm. Let your chief prayer be: “Lord, that I may draw a pure breath, the breath of Your Spirit, and exhale all bitterness and fear.” If He grants the cooler home, give thanks. If He does not, do not think yourself overlooked. For He did not overlook the multitude that followed Him for healing, but even when they asked not for food, He had compassion and provided loaves. He knows your need for shelter and for bodily wholeness. But far more does He know your need for a trial of faith. So wait upon Him. Set your appointments with diligence, but also with the firm persuasion that if you must keep trusting without an answer for yet a time, it is because He intends to lead you through the very gates of despair into eternal life.