When the vital signs fluctuate and the doctors see no response to their treatment, then the prayer that reels to and fro, the prayer of those at their wit's end, rises as a prevailing prayer before the throne. God hears the cry that has no orderly consecutiveness, the groanings that cannot be uttered, when the heart is staggering under the weight of a beloved one lying on a ventilator with low saturation. He is not a long while in answering when the soul is near unto the gates of death.
But let this trial drive all confidence away from the arm of the flesh. His self-conceit tears the chariot wheels from prayer. Humility must mark our pleading. Spread the case before Him, argue with the Most High, tell Him that this dear one is His own, that His name is at stake, that He has promised to be the God of the fatherless and the help of the helpless. Yet know that the answer may not come in the expected way. He may choose to strengthen in the inner man while the body wastes, or to give recovery step by slow step that He may have a new claim on affection with each increase of strength.
Overwhelming evidence of our nation’s need for healing is before us, and here is one soul in the grip of a fierce malady. But the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. The least thing about Christ is full of healing virtue. His fruit is sweet and nourishing, but even the very leaves, the small things, the simplest promises, the most common means of grace, carry power to change the life blood and affect the spirits. Calvary is the place for the healing balm. The work of the heavenly Physician is to indicate and apply the remedy. Think not that prayer must wait for a more orderly frame of mind; the healing power is present when Christ is teaching, and faith comes by hearing. Has there not been prayer put up for this soul? Then let that prayer continue, for the Church must pray if she would have the healing power.
Begin with the great ill, but look to the Great Healer. Healing and forgiveness are placed in happy conjunction. The inhabitants of the sick chamber need not say they are sick when the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings. When the Lord comes and dwells with them, pardon and healing are one. Let your prayer rise to His throne out of the low dungeon of this hospital room. Jerusalem was on the brink of destruction when the Lord answered Hezekiah and smote the host of Assyria. Expect that He will be very pitiful and have compassion upon this misery. Ask for the forgiveness of every sin, for the cleansing of the conscience, and healing will come from the pardoning hand.
Spurn the dark suggestion to forsake the closet or give up private devotion. Prayer, mighty prayer, will yet prevail if it has but time. Cry in the daytime and at night. Get hold of a promise, for the Lord has given exceeding great and precious promises for those who are broken in heart, and then offer the prayer, and it will be answered as surely as God is God. Failure in prayer may sometimes be chastisement, but let it drive you nearer, not further away. Instead of saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,” let the cry be, “Come nearer to me, O Lord, though I am a sinful man.” He will not be angry with such a prayer. He will separate the chaff from the wheat and accept the good.
The posts of the doors of heaven move while a man of God pleads. Strength shall be Divinely bestowed in answer to prayer. Wonder not if recovery is slow; if strength returns little by little, acknowledge each increase as a new claim on affection. Let there be not just a few minutes’ prayer in the morning but a slipping out, if possible, to get a word with God in the middle of the day for this precious soul. And in that yonder Heaven, those faces which look so bright and comely, fresher than new-born babes, owe their freshness to these healing leaves. The Great Physician knows the case perfectly. He is able to bring back from the gates of death. Praise the Lord even now, for He is still the God who hears prayer.