Tuesday 23 December 2014


Scripture: 

Psalm 145:18-19
"18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, 
to all who call on him in truth. 

19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; 
he also hears their cry, and saves them."

Observation: 


Scripture is full of stories of healing. In 2Kings 19 we hear one such case. The good king Hezekiah is laying on his death bed. All hope is lost, until he turns to God in desperate, pleading prayer. He is miraculously healed, his life extended by 15 years. 

Wow! I wonder, what your take is on such miraculous cures? Heck, many days I wonder what my take is on stories such as these. You see my father was diagnose with Chronic Lymphatic Leuquemia when I was a little boy (I was 10 and my sister was 7). That was in 1988, and the prognosis was not good. Doctors put his life expectancy at about 5 years, meaning he'd have his work cut out for him to make it to 40. Forty. 

The years that followed were filled: filled with drugs; filled with laughter; filled with tears and remissions and prayers. I prayed long and hard for my dad to be healed. I prayed for him to live to see me play the next hockey season, to see me turn 16, to see me graduate, to see me become a man in his likeness. 

In the end, my dad lived another 15 years like Hezekiah. In the end, my dad died of cancer just days short of his 50th birthday. 

So, did God hear my prayers, or not? Did God answer my prayers, or not?

Application:

The whole experience has made me skiddish about praying for healing of any kind for anyone. The fatalist in me yawns, "God's gonna do what God's gonna do, either way."
But, somewhere along the way I realized that all those prayers had been effecting something I had not attended to. I was too busy watching for whether or not God would heal my father to see that God was drawing up near alongside me through those long hours of lamenting, pleading, thanking, praising and listening.

God certainly heard my prayers, how could God not have? God was with me as I prayed them. God certainly answered my prayers, often in ways beyond my comprehension, but always with his mightily merciful presence. And, you know what? Our Creator wants to hear and answer you too!

Prayer:


Oh Lord, hear my prayer,
Oh Lord, hear my prayer,
When I call, answer me!
Oh Lord, hear my prayer, 
Oh Lord, hear my prayer,
Come, and listen to me!

(These words are ancient, but I credit the Taize community with setting them to music that is seared into my brain.)
Amen.

1 comment:

  1. Amen. Prayer has always been a mystery to me, but I find that the more I "just do it", the more I want to, need to...Thank you for bravely sharing these thought, Phil - bless you.

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