Sprained ankle

[Jonathan_M]

Praying for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

A fearful thing is bodily pain, and I do not make light of your ankle, swollen and hindering you far from home. But I must ask you to consider that often the sickness of the soul goes unfelt, while a small hurt of the body drives us to urgent prayer. It is as when a physician uses external cautery for dropsy, because the inward disease refuses milder remedies. This very sprain may be the Lord’s own hand, not to crush you, but to probe your heart. For He said to the man who had been paralyzed, “Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” That worse thing is not merely a more painful limp, but the ruin that waits upon an unexamined life. Search yourself, then, and see if any sin lies unrepented, for the soul’s sickness may be the root of what the body now endures.

Now perhaps these words gall you, and you had hoped only for a word of comfort. But what would you have me do? To speak smooth things while the knife is needed would be a mean and cruel neglect. It is far more delightful to be told of the danger than to fall into it, and a warning word that pains the ear may yet brace the soul and guard it from far greater agony. Even if you cannot yet bear your full weight upon that foot, let your understanding bear the weight of this truth: the Lord who permits trials knows your frame, and if you turn to Him with a will to cast off every sin, He will not despise your pain. I am fully persuaded that such eager desire and love of calling upon Him will not fail of its effect; the healing may come at once, or it may tarry a little while to work a deeper cure. But do not doubt that even now, as you wait, it is possible to be laying hold of eternal life in the very midst of this weakness.

Let this affliction, then, become a table where you hear the laws of the Spirit. Write down in your mind what has now been spoken: that a soul watchful over Divine matters, even in a storm of bodily trouble, can enjoy a great calm. The devil flees from a heart where the King’s writing is stamped. Take these words as a small medicine, and if you receive them, you will find that not only your steps are restored, but your whole being is strengthened, so that having become worthy of the Lord’s admonitions, you may at last obtain the everlasting blessings.