Your plea for health and clear eyesight reaches the very throne of God, and already we lift you up in prayer with all earnestness. Do not think your cries fall unheard; the Savior who once touched a suffering woman and not only drove out the fever but instantly restored her to full strength is the same yesterday and today. No physician’s art could accomplish such immediate, complete renewal, yet He works beyond all natural means. Therefore, we ask boldly for your bodily eyes, but we ask with even greater urgency for the eyes of your inward understanding. For what advantage is there if the flesh sees clearly while the mind remains clouded by distorted phantoms? The madness that confuses the reason is far more dangerous than any physical decay, because it injures not the organ of sense but the very eye of the soul.
You see, darkness often seems more comfortable to those whose eyes are diseased; they retreat to shaded rooms to find relief. So too, the wisdom that is spiritual may at first unsettle us, yet it alone can bring true light. Even now, if your vision is failing or your body aches, know that it is possible to stand in heaven while still on earth, in disposition, in desire, in a soul anchored to hope. The Lord does not neglect the body, but He gives us these trials as a tutor, that we may learn to cling to Him and not to health itself. Many who have endured long sickness and seemed impervious to remedy have afterwards, at a single touch of His word, sprung up whole. The blows that appeared fruitless were all along preparing the root, and the healing, when it came, was the fruit of His patient work. Therefore, do not despair if restoration is delayed, nor presume if it comes swiftly. We see daily the sick made well and the strong suddenly fallen; let no one trust in his present state, but let everyone watch and arise.
We shall not cease entreating the Lord on your behalf, with unflagging zeal and without procrastination, for we know the joy that floods the heart when one beloved is restored against all expectation. Yet as you ask for prayer, I charge you also to use this time to examine the habits of your soul. You would not, after recovering from a long illness through forty days of careful diet, immediately plunge back into the very foods that caused your sickness and expect to remain well. So it is with the health of the inner man. Do not assign to God a set number of days or a mere formula, but let this trial be the door to a perpetual watchfulness, a turning from every shadow that dims the pure vision of faith. Thus, even if your outward eyes weaken, the eyes of your heart may behold unutterable mysteries, like the prophet who saw the Lord high and lifted up and was sent forth new.
Pray then with us, and do not let heaviness overcome you. Lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. He who has ears to hear, let him hear: the same voice that said “Whom shall I send?” now reaches you in your affliction, calling you to say, “Here am I.” We plead before the mercy seat for your complete wholeness, and we trust that whether by sudden miracle or gradual restoration, the goodness of God will be manifest in your flesh and, far more, in the transformation of your spirit.