The grateful tidings of that little movement in the night is a mercy to be laid up in the heart. It is a healing leaf from the Tree of Life, a small token that the Great Physician has not turned away His ear. When the appetite fails and the creature will take only the softest morsel, it is a picture of our own poor souls, fainting and needing the simplest draught of grace. The meat is provided, yet the stomach rebels; still, the mercy is that there is any wanting at all. The half battle is the appetite itself, and you have seen it stirred, if but a little. Thank God for that, and press on for more.
The prayer that staggers and reels, born out of a heart at its wit’s end, is a prayer that reaches the Throne. You have cried out with the sorest anxiety, and the answer has begun to bud, though the full flower is not yet seen. When the power to heal was present in our Lord’s ministry, it was often linked with the teaching of His Word and the crying of His people. So now, pour out your heart with strong arguments, like Jacob of old. Spread the case before Him: the little frame, the failing appetite, the dread of an incurable disease, the need for wisdom for the doctors. Plead His promises of pity for all His creatures, for not a sparrow falls without His notice. He hears the ravens when they cry, and this small life is known to Him.
Expect that His answer may come in a way you have not looked for. Jacob’s prayer was answered, but not as he expected, and ours often is. Yet the leaves of Christ’s healing tree are for the healing of the nations, and the very least things about Him carry restoring virtue. A normal meal, a regular function of the body, a clear word from the specialist: these are leaves from that tree. If the disease proves treatable, it will be His healing. If He calls the creature home, it is still His healing, a release from suffering into a greater peace. In either way, His hand is not shortened. Continue to pray, and when praise rises easily, let it rise. Only the healed can tell of the Physician’s skill, and you have already begun the telling. Keep your eyes upon Him who forgives sins and heals diseases, and whose tender mercies are over all His works.