The very leaves of the tree are for healing, and the least thing about Christ is full of healing virtue. What is this sickness that has laid ### low, but an opportunity for the Sun of Righteousness to arise with healing in His wings? The power that once flowed from Christ as He taught in Galilee is not diminished; it is present still, when He is lifted up in the teaching of His Word. Pray, then, that ### may lie in the presence of Jesus, hoping and expecting forgiveness and healing, for pardon and healing are placed in happy conjunction and both bestowed on the Lord’s people when they look for them.
Is not the Father, from this point of view, the object of our love, praise and blessing? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He is our Father, our God, our Savior’s Father, our Savior’s God. And in Him the fatherless finds mercy. You cry out for ### to be restored, but see here a greater truth: there is a Father who never fails, whose love is equal to the love of the Son. The Lord says, “I will be a Father unto you.” Trust ### into the hands of this heavenly Father, who can command the ### to decrease and the ### to vanish, for nothing is too hard for Him. He who gave His own Son for our sins, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
When the prodigal son came back, he was to his father as if he had never gone away. Perfect restoration is the way of our God. He does not merely half-heal; He makes whole. This privilege is proffered to you also in the Gospel of God. You want ### back as he was before, and we join our prayers to yours, asking the Lord to rebuke the sickness and command strength to return. Yet know this: the Lord’s restoration often works through the very means that seem most unlikely, a crowing cock, a look from Christ. His ways are not our ways, but His end is always mercy. I trust that if ### has been brought low, he may receive such a restoration from the Lord Himself that he becomes a better man ever afterwards, a trophy of grace, a living testimony that the healing leaves of the tree are not withered.
Observe, too, that healing and forgiveness are never far apart. The inhabitant shall not say, “I am sick,” for the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. How shall we reckon ourselves to be beloved children if our Father is still our Judge? But in Christ Jesus, the sword of Justice is sheathed, and the spirit of adoption makes us cry, “Abba, Father.” Pray, therefore, not only for the body of ### but for his soul, that he may know the pardoning hand which alone can give true peace. Welcome, ###, to the throne of grace with this request. We are so sorry for your trial, yet we rejoice that you turn to the Lord in this hour. He is the great conduit Head, from which abundant streams of healing flow down to men below.
In many a heart there may be heard the cry, “I will arise and go to my Father.” Lead ###, by your prayers and by your love, to that Father’s house. And as you wait, let your own soul rest in the music of that name. Father! There is all you need; all you can ask; all your necessities can demand; all your wishes can contrive. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. May the Lord deal with ### according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, and to Father, Son and Holy Spirit be glory forever. Amen.