It is a heavy burden that bows your heart to the ground, yet remember the Tree of Life whose very leaves are for healing. The least things about Christ are full of virtue, and you may see even this surgeon’s knife as a leaf plucked from that Tree, an instrument in the hand of the great Physician. The Lord Jesus does not need to thunder from Sinai to cure this little one; a glance, a touch, a word, the hem of His garment, is enough to chase away the foul cancer that afflicts the leg. His power to heal is as present on Wednesday as when He walked in Galilee, for the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings for all who look to Him.
Do not imagine that healing must come apart from the forgiveness which makes the soul whole. When Jesus saw the palsied man let down through the roof, He first said, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee,” and then arose the bodily cure. Pardon and healing walk hand in hand from the throne of grace. Pray, then, not only for the limb but for the soul of this dear child, that both may be restored by the same compassionate hand. The Lord can make the theater of surgery a house of mercy, and the recovery ward a place of praise.
Run to the teaching of the Word, for when Christ was teaching, the power of the Lord was present to heal. Gather the promises like leaves from the tree of life and press them to the boy’s heart. The surgeon’s skill, the prayers of the saints, the love of the family, these are all ropes to let down the little stretcher before Jesus. He will not pass by such faith. He sees the tears, He hears the groans, and He will say, “I will come and see your sick child,” which means He will search into the matter with all the wisdom of Godhead and the tenderness of a brother born for adversity.
You fear, perhaps, that the disease has gone too far. But remember the man born blind: from the womb no eyes had gathered light, yet the clay and the spittle wrought a new creation. Christ our Lord is the opener of blind eyes and the restorer of withered limbs. If sin’s cataract and self-reliance’s proud palsy are removed by His word, shall a tumor withstand Him? Never. The great ill of a broken heart He binds up; the great fear of a threatened life He can vanquish. The healing is not yet seen, but the command has gone forth. The fever must depart, the cancer must flee. He took Peter’s mother by the hand and lifted her up; He will take this little one by the hand on Wednesday and raise him from the bed of affliction.
Only let your hearing be faith, and faith shall be sight. When the Master speaks the word, every sentence is life to the soul that leans forward to catch it. The devil would make you inattentive now, to rob you of the promise; but give ear as one reading a father’s letter. The healing leaves are for the nations, and this small sufferer is part of a nation for whom the balm flows freely. I would have you go to the mercy-seat with this cry: “Lord, forgive, and heal; spare, and renew; let the surgeon’s hand be Thine own; bring this child back from the valley of the shadow, and let his life be a sweet ministry to Thee, as she who arose and ministered to Jesus.” The desire to serve arises out of healing, and this boy has his whole life ahead to run with gladness in the way of the Lord. May the Great Physician give a happy issue, and may you soon stand with joy in this Tabernacle to testify, “The Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad.” God bless you and the little one, and grant a sky full of healing light on Wednesday, for Jesus’ sake.