00B.12 Chapter 5--Men Ought Always To Pray--No. 3

V. "Men Ought Always to Pray”

No. 3

1. "Does it do any good to pray for the recovery of the sick today?" If there were no example and no admonition in the Scriptures of praying for the sick, the general teach­ing of the Scriptures on prayer is sufficient authority for praying for them. Since "men ought always to pray"; since we are admonished to "pray without ceasing"; since we are told to cast all our care upon the Lord; since it is in God that "we live, and move, and have our being"; since we are taught. "In nothing be anxious; but in everything b y prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God"; and since we are admonished to be "praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching there­unto in all perseverance," of course we will pray for the sick always. To refuse or to fail to do so is to disregard the word of the Lord, to manifest a woeful want of faith, and to rob ourselves and our friends of one of the sublimest and most precious privileges vouchsafed unto the children of God. We should pray for the recovery of the sick if that be the Lord’s will. Of course, every patient that we pray for will not recover. If that happens, then no praying Christian—and there is no other kind of Christian—or any of his friends would ever die. When it is, and when it is not, the Lord’s will for a sick person to recover, we cannot know until the sickness termi­nates one way or the other. Therefore, we should always pray for recovery, but with the understood and expressed attitude of submission to the will of the Lord. The age of the patient and the nature and state of the disease may give us some indication of what the will of the Lord is, since we do not expect a miracle; but these things do not always determine the matter. To rely wholly upon these conditions would be to rule God out of the equation entirely and to look only to natural conditions, laws, and forces. Not only that, but it would be to decide by what wo know and see of natural laws, with no allowance for elements and contingen­cies that are unknown to us. All Christians who have had any extended experience in such things have seen patients recover when the prognosis held no hope; when the physi­cians and all those who judged by natural laws and forces thought there was no chance for recovery. These cases occur so frequently that it is an established rule of ethics with the medical profession to keep a patient alive as long as possible; for "where there is life, there is hope." Physi­cians often keep patients alive by various methods when even praying Christians feel that it would be better to let them go. The cases of recovery just mentioned are not cited as instances of "divine healing" in the sense of miraculous cures. Such cases and the practice of medical men in con­tinuing their efforts to the end are here used to show that we should not judge too quickly by appearances and give up hope and cease praying because conditions seem to indi­cate that it would take a miracle to effect a cure. Medical men—men of science—admit that they cannot say definitely and absolutely that there is no hope till the end comes. Then why should Christians reason upon a basis of natural science and conclude that there is no room for supernatural or providential aid to the natural chances which physicians admit may exist? If we hope for or would like to see the sick person recover, then that is unquestionably the desire or prayer that we should express to Jehovah. That i s our sincere feeling.But all sensible men will admit that the absolute decision of such cases cannot be placed in the hands of frail and fallible men.

2. There is a difference in "divine healing" as those terms are now used and in praying for the sick and expecting their recovery in answer to prayer. "Divine healing," in the gen­eral acceptation of those terms, means miraculous healing, instantaneous cures without medical aid or any other natural curative element. Such miracles were done by Christ and the apostles. In those cases often no special prayer was offered and no natural agencies or means were used. They simply spoke the word and the afflicted ones were healed. Sometimes they did touch them with their hands, as when Christ opened the eyes of the two blind men (Matthew 20:29-34), or as when Peter lifted up the lame man (Acts 3:1-26); and sometimes they anointed with oil (Mark 6:13). But in many cases even this was not done. There was no laying on of hands, no special praying, no anointing with oil, and no resorting to curative agencies in these miraculous heal­ings. But in praying for the recovery of the sick, as in praying for anything else, we must comply with all the known laws of Jehovah, whether those laws be revealed in nature or in the Bible or in both. The answer may come after long delay, come gradually through one means or another, or it may come speedily and without our being able to determine through just what particular means or process it arrived. Perhaps many things were used by providence. Then, again, the answer in the sense of the thing prayed for may not come at all. The Lord in his wisdom and good­ness must decide, and we will always submit and be resigned.

3. There are examples in the Scriptures where the sick recovered in answer to prayer, and there are also examples of the servants of God praying for the sick when they did not recover. Hezekiah was "sick unto death." He had a fatal trouble, and the Lord had declared that he would die. There seemed to be no chance lor him; but old Hezekiah did not want to die, and he set up an awful wailing and con­tended with the Lord and begged to live. He turned his face to the wall and wept sore. So great was his bitterness and distress that he afterwards composed a song about it. He says he thought or reckoned about it all through the night. He roared like a lion and chattered like a crane or a swallow in distress. He said: "I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul." Or differently trans­lated: "Through the rest of my years will I reflect on this bitterness of my soul." Or another rendering: "Through all my years I shall walk as in solemn procession because of this bitterness of my soul." (See Isaiah 38:1-20.)

Now, all this earnest praying was not in vain. Jehovah heard his prayer and raised him up and prolonged his life fifteen years. That this was because of and in answer to his prayer cannot be doubted, for God said to him through Isaiah: "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years." This, then, was a recovery from a fatal sickness in answer to prayer. Yet natural means were used. The prophet directed that a plaster of figs be placed on the boil, "and he shall recover." (Isaiah 38:21.) In the New Testament we have an example of prayer availing for a sick man, although the story is not told in detail. Epaphroditus had gone from Philippi to Rome to carry a contribution which the church at Philippi was sending to Paul. While he was far away from home, at Rome, he became seriously ill. Paul says, "He was sick nigh unto death." Although Paul was there and could work miracles, he did not seem to use his power at this time, for knowledge of it got back to Philippi; and this troubled Epaphroditus, because he knew it caused great solicitude among the brethren at home. This sickness caused sorrow in the heart of Paul, too. Did the brethren at Philippi pray for his recovery? Of course they did, for they were instruct­ed "in everything by prayer and supplication" to make their wishes or requests known unto God. Did Paul pray for his recovery? We know he did, for he prayed "at all seasons" and for "all men" and made "all prayers for all saints" and entreated God in behalf of the "bodies," "souls," and "spirits" of his friends and converts. Furthermore, his language con­cerning Epaphroditus shows that he looked to God for his recovery and then attributed the recovery to Jehovah’s mercy. "Indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow." Jehovah had mercy upon these his faithful servants and regarded the sorrows of their hearts, heard their cries, and restored the sick man to health and spared the apostle a great sorrow. There was no miracle here, but great yearning of Christian hearts; and as a result of that yearning and to spare those hearts further sorrow, Jehovah showed mercy and healed the sick man. Did prayer or the condition of a saint’s heart "do any good" in that case? When the psalmist was sick, he prayed to be spared and to recover strength. Hear him: "Hear my prayer, O Je­hovah, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more." (Psalms 39:12-13.)

4. But we find cases in both the Old and New Testaments where the sick did not recover, even though prayers were offered i n their behalf. David’s child was sick, and David fasted and prayed and prostrated himself upon the earth in his earnest entreaties in behalf of the child. The child died. It was not the Lord’s will for it to live. David was resigned to the Lord’s will and did not mourn for the child. (See 2 Samuel 12:15-24.)

Trophimus was a Gentile convert whom Paul brought to the Lord at Ephesus. He became one of Paul’s companions in his missionary travels. He was with Paul at Jerusalem and was the Gentile whom the Jews accused Paul of bring­ing into the temple and thus profaning the temple. After Paul’s release from prison and before his second imprison­ment, Paul and Trophimus had been traveling together again. When they reached Miletus, Trophimus became sick, too sick to go on with Paul, and, therefore, Paul left him. Did Paul pray for him? It is useless to ask that question after we have learned of Paul’s teaching and practice in reference to prayer. Did the Lord answer this prayer? Perhaps he did, but he did not restore Trophimus imme­diately. Paul left him sick. The question may be asked, Why did Paul not use his miraculous power here? For some reason it was not God’s will for him so to use it any more than it was to use such power to prevent his own death, or than it was for Christ to save himself from the cross.

Paul himself had an infirmity which he did not heal. It is supposed by some Bible scholars that what Paul speaks of as a thorn in the flesh was his infirmity. If that be true, then Paul prayed that this infirmity might be healed or removed, but it was not removed. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10.) Timothy also had "often infirmities," and lie was not miraculously healed. Paul instructed him to use natural means which he at least thought would be beneficial. (1 Timothy 5:23.)

We have, therefore, found that there is an abundance of authority for praying for the recovery of the sick, and at the same time accompanying our prayers with whatever natural means are available. But we must know that even then the sick will not always recover, for it is "appointed unto men once to die."

There is yet an important passage of Scripture that we have not considered, and that is James 5:1-20. That passage calls for a special article next week.