When disease strikes Part -2

 So far we've heard quite a marvelous story about king Hezekiah. We have heave learned about his accomplishments as much as his mistakes, but the main point I want to drive home with this series is what he did as well as what God did when disease came to pay him a visit.

The first thing we learned was that he prayed; he turned his face to the wall and started praying as fervently as he could to the God of Heaven. The second thing we can learn from this experience is that God sees your emotions in the midst of your trial. Hezekiah wept bitterly (2 Kings 20:3) and God saw his tears (2 Kings 20:5). You see, when we are experiencing our darkest times, all we can think about is how lonely we are and how nobody is paying attention to our sufferings, but there is Someone who's always watching; our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

David says: "(God) put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book? Psalm 56:8 (ESV). God knows every emotion that we go through in life and records them. Not that He needs to remember them because He knows everything, but He records them because He cares about us and we are important to Him. We are like the " apple of His eyes". How fragile we must be to Him that he feels the need to care so much for us.

So my friend, let it be a comfort to us that when we're going through the most terrible of diseases, God sees our affliction and what we're feeling whether it be physical or emotional. At the end of the day He's omniscient. He knows everything. It reminds me of Psalm 39:7-10: "Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?   If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and well in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there  your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." There's no where that I can go that He'll not be there and that's a great comfort.

When disease strikes God might give you more than you ask for. Not only God healed Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:5b), but He gave him an extra fifteen years of life (v.6a) and also delivered him and his people from the Assyrian King (v.6b). When we get sick, our prayer focus is on health, right? But what we don't know is that God, in the background, might be working out a greater plan and a greater blessing. This was the case with Hezekiah. What about you? Can you attest that sometimes God can give you more than you ask for? That's what Paul did when He said:"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" Ephesians 3:20. "He is able to do far more abundantly". Isn't that wonderful? When we pray, we can be encouraged by the fact that God, in His sovereignty, can surprise us by giving us far beyond our immediate need. Don't lose heart. He is able!

Finally, when disease strikes, God might use simplistic methods to bring about our healing. 2  Kings 20:7 reads: "And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”(2 Kings 20:7). Even though, in the East, in those days, this was the manner in which boils were cured, it seemed insufficient to apply a cake of figs on the boil and make it disappear. Hezekiah was about to die. It is obvious that the supernatural healing hand of God was at work. The presence of medicines in our healing process doesn't negate God. Sometimes He chooses to use this means to bring about the healing that you need.

Also, it sounds that the healing process was a gradual one. The King asks this question: “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” 2 Kings 20:8 ESV. It looks like by the third day Hezekiah was healed because Isaiah answered his question: “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord , that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 2 Kings 20:9 ESV.

Isaiah gives Hezekiah two options to choose from in regards what type of sign needs to happen. Hezekiah chooses the more difficult one (v.10b), to let the shadow go back ten steps. For the shadow to go forward ten steps was too easy (v.10a). Isaiah called to the Lord and made the sign happen (v.11)

Whether God chooses to heal you immediately, gradually or not at all, He is ultimately in control and working a plan for you that ultimately will glorify His name. He is so good that He is even willing to give you signs when your complete healing is about to happen. Have you ever asked God for a sign not just about healing but about whatever else you have prayed for in your heart? Or, has God ever healed you with simplistic yet unconventional methods that are worth sharing for the glory of His name? I know when disease strikes, it is tough! Believe you me! But we need to learn to fix our eyes on Him and not our diseases. I'm really trying. I've heard before that we need to become Davids to slay the Goliaths in our lives, but it wasn't David on his own strength who slew Goliath, it was the trust of David in the God who was behind him that really slew this giant. It's never you that defeat your disease, it's always the God behind you, the God who gives you strength.

Let this story be a lesson to us on what we can do and what God can do when disease strikes. It's definitely very comforting to know  that God is able to do anything in the midst of our terrible situations. But, we need to do our part, we need to pray! May God bless you and be present when your disease strikes. May He heal you with abundant blessings! He is the Great Physician!