Devotional #10: Healing Hezekiah
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
-Luke 19:40 NIV
Earlier in my diagnosis people were assuring me that God would heal me. I must admit, however, that my faith was weak in face of the grim statistics, which indicated that I only had a 10% change of surviving after one year. Grimmer still, my odds of surviving after 5 years were only 5%. I certainly believed in healing, but my faith was shaken, and I was depressed.
One evening, when I was very ill from a round of chemo, I opened my heart up to God and begged for my life. God then brought me to the story of Hezekiah, as told in 2 Kings 20, specifically God’s response when Hezekiah also had begged for his life, “This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.” NIV. I knew then, without reservation, that God intended to heal me. I continued reading and found that God also used the prophet Isaiah to accomplish this healing. God instructed Isaiah to “Prepare a poultice of figs” and apply it to Hezekiah’s boil. I imagine a poultice of figs is the closet thing in the Ancient Era comparable to our modern medicine.
Filled with hope and the assurance of God’s promise to heal me, I started declaring my healing on Facebook posts. At the same time, I continued to ask for prayer as I underwent chemotherapy treatments. A question by one individual came as a great surprise to me, “If you believe God has healed you, then why are you continuing to receive medical treatments?” While in my mind, the continuation of chemotherapy was an obvious necessity, this individual’s question was completely legitimate. I was reminded of God’s instructions to Isaiah, which indicated to me that God sometimes uses medicine and people to heal others. Of course, God also can heal without using medicine or humans, in those miraculous ways he has in the lives of so many. Both methods are legitimate and both serve a significant purpose-they Glorify God. Luke 19:40 NIV tell us that, if we do not glorify God, “the stones will cry out.” If stones can glorify God, how much more can surgeons, doctors, scientists, and other working to cure cancer and heal the sick? After all, each of these people were created in the very image of God himself. (Genesis 1:27 NIV).
I was also reminded of a quote from my favorite sermon, “Raised to Run” by Ravi Zacharias, in which Ravi said:
When I think of the millions [of children] we have obliterated in the womb, I shudder to think of what we will say to God…[when we ask] “Why did you allow so much suffering, so much cancer, so much hepatitis, so much this, so much that?” What will we say when God says, “ I sent a whole lot of people into your world with cures for those, but you would not even allow them into your world.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeZdVW8CpLM)
Indeed, God has uses humans throughout history to accomplish his good work on Earth, combatting evil and disease—all ultimately to His glory.
For Additional Study & Discussion
1. Think of a person in history that God used to accomplish His good and perfect will? Why did you chose that person?
2. Read 2 Kings 20. Have you ever cried out to the Lord with the same passion as Hezekiah? What was the result?
3. In what area(s) of your life could God use a human to help you? How should you pray to God for that?