The prayer of faith is ever heard before the throne, for our Lord Jesus Christ is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That cry for the healing of a mother’s leg and foot rises as incense, and He who bore our sicknesses will not cast it aside. See now the abundance of healing power in Christ and His salvation. The leaves of that tree which grows by the river of life are for the healing of the nations, yes, the very leaves, the least things about Him, are full of virtue. Not only His great atoning work, but every word, every touch, every glance of His is medicine for our mortal frames. The Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings, and when Jesus comes near, pardon and healing flow together in one blessed stream. He said to the palsied man, “Your sins are forgiven you,” and then bade him rise and walk. So it is that our spiritual cure and our bodily restoration are intertwined in His tender hand.
Lay hold of this truth: healing power is conspicuously present when Christ is teaching. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. As you bring this need before the Lord, let your ears be opened to His promises. Search the Scriptures, for they testify of Him, and in the attentive hearing of the gospel, the virtue of the Great Physician flows forth. I have heard of a child who leaned forward in the pew to catch every syllable, fearing the devil might snatch away a word meant for his soul. So be heedful now. There is more teaching of Christ among us than we know, and in that teaching, healing waits to be revealed. He is able to heal, and there are seasons when that power is more than usually manifest, days of visitation, acceptable days, days of salvation. Cry out for such a time for your beloved mother.
Remember, too, that the Lord’s healing is not harsh like the army surgeon’s hurried knife. He comes gently and sympathizingly. He stoops to touch the fevered hand, as He did for Peter’s wife’s mother, and immediately the fever left her and she arose to serve Him. Healing must come before serving, and it begins with a personal, living contact with Christ. That glorious truth of His incarnation, that He took our flesh and dwelt among us, is itself healing to our bones. He knows the frailties of the body, for He wore a body like ours. Whether the affliction be a leg that falters or a foot that bears pain, He who led Israel through the wilderness with un-worn shoes and un-swollen feet can surely command restoration. Do not measure His power by the little foot-rule of human sense. The astronomer who limits the heavens to inches and feet closes his own eyes to the vastness of creation. So we must not confine the Almighty to our narrow understanding. He who made the foot and the leg can mend them with a word.
Yet, let the heart be searched. The deepest healing is for the broken heart and the wounded spirit. Physical suffering often drives us to feel our spiritual sickness, and that is a mercy. If this trial has made your mother, and you, keenly aware of dependence on God, then already a good work is begun. The Lord heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds. Calvary is the place for healing balm rather than for the lancet and the knife. Lay your mother’s case there, at the foot of the cross, and plead the blood that speaks better things than that of Abel. There is no case beyond His skill; if she is as helpless as the palsied man, unable to lift hand or foot by her own strength, then the Master’s power is made perfect in weakness. He says still, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” And if He speaks, the sinews and bones obey their Maker.
Therefore, let your prayer be mingled with praise and expectation. Bring your mother in the arms of intercession and lay her before Jesus. He will not quench the smoking flax nor break the bruised reed. Whether He works a gradual recovery or a sudden miracle, His healing leaves are unfailing. The day shall come when, in the heavenly city, faces bright with eternal freshness will owe their comeliness to these healing leaves, and bodies long racked with pain shall leap with immortal vigor. So be of good cheer. Faith’s cry has already reached the ear of the Lord of hosts. Trust Him for the healing of that leg and foot, and trust Him for whatever greater healing of soul He designs through this affliction. He does all things well.