I know a lady who some years ago who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She took some time off work, went away on her own to a quiet place for a week and spent that time praying and fasting. She didn’t get any treatment and she’s still alive and cancer free today. I knew another lady who was diagnosed with liver cancer. She hadn’t been particularly sick, just a niggling pain that she decided needed checking out. Within two weeks she was hospitalized and less than three months later her family buried her. It was so sad. Both these ladies had been given a potential death sentence. One accepted it but the other one did not. One saw the negative side and believed what the doctors told her. The other knew that there was a positive side and believed what God told her. How would you react to that kind of diagnosis? King Hezekiah was sick and near death. The prophet Isaiah went to him and told him to set his affairs in order because he was going to die. Now I don’t know about you but if a reliable and tested prophet of god tells me I’m going to die, I’ll believe it. Hearing something from Isaiah was like hearing from God Himself. If god tells me I’m going to die, I think I would definitely get my affairs in order. Do you know what Hezekiah did?
2 Kings 20:2-3 “Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the lord, saying, ‘Remember now, o lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal hear, and have done what was good in Your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.”
Isaiah hadn’t even left the palace, when god told him to go back to Hezekiah to tell him that God had heard his prayer and that he would heal him. He would live another 15 years and the city would be saved from the onslaught of the Assyrians. Isaiah told the physicians to put a lump of figs on the boil that was causing the inflammation and three days later Hezekiah had to go to the temple. But that wasn’t all. Hezekiah asked for a sign from God to prove that he would live and that the Assyrians wouldn’t prevail over them. I’m thinking, “seriously Hezekiah? It was like, Okay Lord you said you would heal me, now prove it.” Verse 9 – then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees?” And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for a shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.” So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.
God told king Hezekiah he would die and he decided not to accept the diagnosis. As simple as that. It wasn’t a doctor who told him, it was the Creator of the universe! Instead of running away from God and seeking a cure someplace else, he turned his face to the wall and spoke to God. That’s exactly what the lady with breast cancer did. She didn’t accept what the doctor told her. She turned to God and spoke to Him. You may ask but what if God hadn’t healed her? She would have gone to heaven, and is that such a punishment?
Psalm 103:2-3 : “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.”
But what if it’s god will that I must die? I would say that even then you should never give up. If you have the chance to raise a petition to God, then do it. If you have the chance to strengthen your faith then do it. I am not saying that doctors don’t know what they are doing by any means, I just know that we are far too credulous when it comes to the opinions of medical professionals. If the doctor says so it must be so. But what does God say? Hezekiah didn’t even take God’s word.
Proverbs 18:21 –“ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” As difficult as it may be, don’t be tempted to speak negative things over yourself. Speak life. And don’t allow others to speak death over you. Not even a doctor. Stay positive. Stay close to God. If you are a child of God and you’re in the position where you have been diagnosed with a potential death sentence, and it doesn’t sit well in your spirit, then it’s time to turn your face towards the wall.
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