As one who has been near to the great Physician, I bid you look not to the swelling or the pain with the eye of fear, but with the eye of faith. The leaves of the tree are for healing, and the least thing about Christ is full of virtue. His very garment's hem can make you whole. I have seen His power in the broken-hearted, and in palsied limbs He has spoken in a moment, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee," and straightway the man rose up. Bring your trembling frame before Him now, for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
You speak of two or three gathering together, and that is precious, for where His people meet, there He is in the midst. But know this: He does not need a multitude to unlock His compassion. A single cry from a sinking soul, a whispered prayer in the night-watch, a tottering touch of His garment, these are the signals He answers. The healing power was conspicuously present when He taught, and even now, as we rehearse His Word, that same power is near. Tell the case to Jesus just as you would mention a physical case to a doctor. He is ready to hear it all. Make a confidant of Jesus! He knows the liver's secret malady, and He can bid it cease, for "He healeth all thy diseases."
Yet, let me remind you, dear soul, that the body's ache is often the door by which a greater cure enters. When He healed the palsied man, He first forgave his sins. Healing and forgiveness are placed in happy conjunction. This sharp fear you feel may be the ploughshare breaking the fallow ground to receive the seed of eternal comfort. Do not dread it, but see in it the hand of a Father who wounds only to bind up. The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and you shall know that He "forgiveth all thine iniquities" even as He heals thy diseases.
Lay hold on this truth: the very discomfort you feel is a call to prayer, and prayer already is the evidence of life. The tree whose leaves are for healing is planted by the river of life, and you have come to its shade. Your faith, though it trembles, is fixed on the right object. He will not quench the smoking flax. Only keep your eye on the Crucified One, for Calvary is the place for the healing balm rather than for the lancet and the knife. He took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. By His stripes we are healed.
I pray with you and for you, that as the night watches pass, the Lord will rebuke the malady, ease the discomfort, and cause the swelling to depart. Wake in the morning with a song upon your lips, and if the healing tarries in its fullness, let patience have her perfect work, for the healing of the spirit is a miracle beyond the body's ease. Remember what I said of that man born blind: if never such a case were healed before, Christ would do it, to the greater glory of His name. Be expectant, be trustful, and be still. He who took Peter's mother by the hand and lifted her up, so that she ministered unto Him, will yet make these hours a memorial of His mighty grace. "With blooming health my face adorn, and change the gloomy night to morn." To Jesus alone be the glory. Amen.