What is it Matthew says? “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (21:22) I forget that. I also forget what James said: “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” (5:15) On Sunday morning my sister-in-law was suddenly leveled by an apparent infection. We assume it was related to Xander's arrival a week ago. We pumped her full of healing herbs, let her sleep, and called the prayer warriors. At least four people not of our household instantly got on their knees and sought the throne. At 4:00, when she was no worse but no better, they took her to the emergency room. After a long spell in the waiting room she had begun to turn a corner in the right direction, and even before they had an IV up, her 103-degree fever was down and she wasn't nearly so nauseas. By the time they had blood work done her fever had broken and she was starving. (Good thing— means it's not appendicitis.) All they could find was that there had been an infection— her white blood cell count was still high. But no actual infection. They sent her home and she's been recovering nicely since.
As I did the dishes at 10:00 p.m., waiting for them to get home, I wracked my brains for all the possible explanations: they missed something crucial and she wasn't really better; it hadn't actually been an infection; the herbs worked before they got there— everything, in fact, except “The Lord probably healed her and left the footprints.” I had been in nearly constant communication with our pray-ers, giving them up-dates and receiving assurances of their battle on Sarah's behalf, but somehow I didn't put two and two together. Not until my dad announced himself into the room with the question, “Has it occurred to anyone that perhaps the Lord just answered our prayers?” It was almost rhetorical because he had obviously just left the state of mind I was still in.
This is the think I'm having about that. It is not normally difficult for me to see the hand of the Lord in my daily business. I happen to know He protects me from driving accidents every time I get in my car. He times the delivery of my mail, coming and going. He ordains my phone calls and my conversations and my hang-out time. He supplies everything I need from money to clothes right on time, every time. These are things I recognize and expect. Have worked at recognizing. Why does physical healing require so much more faith for me? Especially when it is someone I'm close to? I can pray in faith for a stranger or a casual friend much more easily than I can pray expectantly for my mother's back to be healed or my dad's carpel tunnel to go away. When He answers prayers I've prayed vaguely or with little hope, I'm always astonished. Why do I bother asking if I don't expect a positive response? Because He says to? Because I have no one else to ask? Because He's able and no one else is? Yes.
But think how many more miracles I might see if I possessed what both Matthew and James, yea verily even Jesus, call Faith.
1 comment:
Okay. This is interesting. Maybe it's the years of ear infections and back problems and polycystic ovarian syndrome. But I prayed for Sarah that day quite a lot and was not at all surprised to hear that the LORD had simply healed her. But the whole God being in the timing of mail and phone calls and hanging out and paychecks and clothing and food and how I spend my day thing is just so hard for me. That's the part I don't see Him in. And that's the part I want to get a grasp on. I want to see my everyday life as an intricate weaving of divine appointments and perfect provision instead of me needing to work my tail off and providing for myself. Man it's hard to re-learn what you were taught and shown your whole childhood. i am still learning to run to the Lord with little things and not just the big.
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