The Declaration And The Demonstration Of Faith

I love the verses that I seem to “stumble” upon in my quiet time! God is so good!

2 Kings 20:5 is the Lord speaking to Hezekiab through the prophet Isaiah and says this, “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David says, ‘I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and 3 days from now you will get out of bed and go to the temple of the Lord.’”

These words come directly after the Lord’s initial plan which was to disallow Hezekiah to recover from his near-death illness.

There’s so much richness in this passage of scripture. For instance, Hezekiah doesn’t pray, ‘Lord spare me.’ Instead he prays, ‘Lord remember me.’ He’s saying here, ‘Whether I live or die, let me be yours... remember me as a close friend.”

The Lord heard the petitions of the King of Judah (recorded in Isaiah 38), and changes His mind! He brings health, length of days, and temporal deliverance. It was, indeed, a miracle!

My commentary suggests that this proves the power of God in Heaven AS WELL as on earth! He takes great notice on prayer, and has great favor on His chosen.

And yet there’s more. Hezekiah’s life was spared in answer to his prayer, yes, but yet we cannot really defend the idea of “healing by faith” here. Why? Because of the message further along in scripture. God still instructs his servants to, “make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover.” (Vs 7)

I’ve struggled with this in my own life. Maybe you have too. A prayer goes unanswered for many seasons and we begin to doubt that we have enough faith. But sometimes God will still require the use of human hands to bring healing to faith-filled people!

And so could we be faithful doubters? Maybe. Remember that we serve a God who honors the intentions of our hearts. Often times it’s a matter of maintaining a Jehoshaphat spirit and sending our praisers in advance! The mouth to speak before the miracle is seen.

Perhaps we can boldly pray, “Lord help my unbelief!” It doesn’t make us weak to admit our need for the strengthening power of Jesus Christ!