King David’s Sick Day

King David’s Sick Day

The LORD nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health. Psalm 41:3

Have you ever been so sick that you thought you were going to die? Over the years, I’ve had many patients who were so ill that they weren’t able to see me until after they started feeling better. A few have even remarked that they would have to get better to go to their own funeral!

Though we don’t often think of biblical characters as having to take a sick day, in Psalm 41 we see King David doing just that. He was lying in his bed because he didn’t feel well. I don’t know how dire his condition was, but those closest to him were saying they didn’t think he would make it. So what did David do? He cried out to the Lord in prayer.

The Lord listens to our prayers and lamentations when we are ill and in need of being nursed back to health. I know he does because I’ve experienced the healing power of prayer many times.

Recently, while making my rounds at the hospital, I stopped by the bedside of a patient who was very ill. We had tried several different kinds of medication, but nothing seemed to be working, and he continued to deteriorate. That day, he asked me to consult not as a doctor but as a friend.

“Would you pray with me for God to relieve me from my pain and sickness?” he asked.

I had been praying for him silently since I had admitted him, but that day we spoke prayers of healing out loud together. Gradually, from that moment on, he began to feel better.

Some might say that the medication had finally kicked in, but I would beg to differ. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results” (James 5:16).

TODAY’S RX

If you are ailing, petition God for healing, early and often.

God, please bring relief to those who are suffering and healing to their bones. Take away their pain and restore them to full health. I, too, need rest and ask for your comforting presence over me this day.