When we
are told , “…in every situation, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil
4:6) we know it makes sense, perhaps by faith or experience and yet can become
forgetful and rely instead on our own understanding, perhaps it’s part of our
terminal independent streak
.
A few
months ago I woke up with a sore thumb. The knuckle was stiff and it was
painful to move. Either google or Facebook led me to believe that it might be
arthritis or gout and I should drink plenty of water. It didn’t work. So I took
the unusual step of visiting the doctor, who prescribed some pills. They didn’t
work either. After many months it dawned on me that I had not really mentioned
it in my prayers so my wife got a bottle of blessed oil and prayed over my
thumb for healing.
At this
point I would have been quite satisfied with a common or garden complete
miraculous healing of the pain and symptoms.
After the
prayer it was still sore. So I figured I would have to carry this cross a
little further and we went out for a walk. Or perhaps I should say we were led
by the Spirit, because the Lord had a much more spectacular healing in mind.
To escape
the searing heat of summer we soon ducked into an air conditioned shopping centre
and strolling through its endless corridors walked up to a Pizza restaurant I
had never been in. We usually avoid all fast-foods but before you could say
cholesterol, we were locked in to its tractor beam and found ourselves seated
in front of two freshly baked pizzas. It was, without exaggeration, the most
delicious pizza I have ever tasted, heavenly. But the full significance of this
event was not revealed until the next morning.
When I
awoke and tried to wiggle my fossilized thumb, it was pain free, no longer
stiff, with a full range of movement again. The Divine Physician had written
out his prescription “take 2 pizzas and call me in the morning” which of course
I did; to thank Him. The pain never returned.
It was a
really funny answer to prayer but when you think about it, whilst doctors have
a certain generalized knowledge of how the body works and its various
malfunctions; only God has the big picture and He knew what vitamin or mineral
or other ingredient was missing from my system that a pizza could replenish.
How much more then can He provide solutions to all our needs if we entrust them
to Him in prayer.
