Your request for your sister in her agony of feet has reached my ears, and I join with you in entreating the Lord for her relief. That a child of God should be laid by in such severe pain whenever she sets foot to ground is a sore trial, yet we know where to carry such burdens. Let us go at once to the mercy seat, pleading the promise that the leaves of the Tree are for the healing of the nations. The least touch of Jesus has boundless virtue in it; did He not heal all manner of diseases with a word, and shall He not regard the cries of this afflicted one? Put forth the finger of faith, ###, and touch the hem of His garment. The very leaves of His grace are balm: a look, a sigh, a whispered prayer can bring the healing power.
But while we pray for the feet to be mended, do not overlook the sweeter comfort that flows from His Word. This is our peculiar comfort in affliction: that He quickens us even while the body aches. You may cry out, “Oh, the pain is unendurable,” yet hear Him whisper, “I will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; I will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” He does not always lift the load at once, but He gives strength to bear, and in the bearing there is a nearness to Christ that is worth more than ease. Comfort is good, but quickening is better; and often the sharpest pains are the goads that drive us deeper into the Saviour’s wounds.
Look forward, too, to that bright shore where the soles of our feet shall never ache again. As waters that pass away, this misery shall be forgotten; in the land above, the former things are all passed, and the inhabitant shall not say, “I am sick.” Until then, let the promise of His presence be your sister’s cushion. He who notes the fall of a sparrow knows every throb of her feet, and He will either remove the thorn or let the pain be so tempered to her weakness that she shall yet sing of victory in the furnace.
Let her not doubt, though the pain scream in her ears. Why should she, when the all-knowing, all-pitying Christ stands so near? He heard the timid martyr’s cry in the flame and bore him up; He will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax. Tell her to lean hard upon her Beloved, and if it be for His glory and her good, He will say to the anguished feet, “Be still.” If not, He will give such patience and peace that she shall forget the pain in the sweetness of His sustaining grace.
I shall be much in prayer that the Lord will alleviate this suffering, and that His holy will may be done. Meanwhile, let this be her comfort and yours: “This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your Word has quickened me.” The Word made flesh is the healer of all our diseases, and His love is better than life.