God Wanted More From the King
Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. – 2 Chronicles 16:12
Asa was one of the better kings of Judah. He tore down idols in the land, repaired the altar of the Lord, and assembled all Judah to Jerusalem to take an oath before the Lord to seek Him with their whole hearts. All Judah sought God wholehearted under Asa and He was found by them.
Twenty years later Asa contracted a severe disease, which is where the above verse comes in. The disease did not kill him, but the indication from the verse is that God intended the illness to draw Asa to seek help from God and he didn’t. Maybe Asa thought the disease was not important enough. It wasn’t like he consulted idols.
If God wanted Asa to turn toward Him in this, what others things are we not turning over to God?
Delayed Healing
So often when get sick, we just go to the doctor and believe whatever they tell us.
When I was a child, I had painful sores on my feet. The doctors told my parents that I had an atopic exema. Their diagnosis lead to 10 years of putting cream on my feet every night only to go back and forth between bad and worse with that foot problem.
In college I had a “God encounter” watching a Micatin commercial. “Maybe I had athlete’s foot.” Two weeks of that spray effectively cured me.
I took the word of a learned professional and lived in unnecessary pain for 10 years.
Can God Bring Better Healing?
More recently I had a snoring problem which affected my wife’s sleep. My wife and I both went to the Lord this time. Since we did not get any particular leaning from God, I went to the doctors for a sleep study to monitor my snoring. The results came back as sleep apnea, which the recommended prescription was surgery to enlarge the airways in my throat.
We prayed again giving God a chance for a second opinion. We tried a few non-evasive options like a C-PAP and a mouth piece. Neither were the answer.
Finally, God downloaded a clue to my wife. Ice cream. It seemed that I was snoring worse on nights I ate ice cream for dessert (which was often). As I abstained from ice cream, the snoring completely vanished. No surgery. No machines. No snoring. Just a little restraint.
Doctors are wonderful people and have incredible wisdom to offer. But our trust is to be in our Lord. Healing is in His wings. It is all a matter of where you give the ultimate say.
The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord. – Proverbs 21:31
Additional Resource: Why Christians Should Pray for Healing
Thank you for this teaching. I learnt many invaluable lessons.
Often times, one will read teachings like this and still miss the lessons.
For instance, if one of the readers also takes ice cream a lot, such a fellow might likely stop taking ice cream and this may not have any effect on his own experience.
The reason is that, he didn’t learn the lesson.
The lesson is SEEK GOD FOR HEALING.
Once again, thank you
Thank you. I pray that God heals me (and you who are reading this) of our snoring so that we can be well rested to do his work during the day and night , and not be a burden to others around us. God is good and perfect in his ways. In Jesus name, Amen.