Morning Devotional November 21, 2020

 

2 Chronicles 16:12

“And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.”

How often we seek the help of physicians before seeking the help of the Lord. In our lack of faith and spiritual sickness the ways of the world seem to overtake us even in our greatest times of need.

Now, some may nitpick and say the disease of Asa was not the same we have today. But, the example given in this passage and many others throughout God's Word is not the disease itself but man's refusal to look to the Lord first before going to the physicians. Notice the fault is not with the physicians, but rather with the man who chose to seek their help before seeking the help of the Lord. The fact of the matter is that if Asa had sought the Lord first the Lord may have sent him to the physician who could best treat his disease. Instead Asa chose to seek the physicians before the Lord and, if you read the rest of the story, you see where Asa was not cured but died.

Throughout time God has used disease in many different ways with His people. Sometimes God brings healing, sometimes not. Even disease whether healed or not is in God's hands. We can go to the best physicians and still not receiving healing if it is not God's will for us. The Lord may use the disease in one of His children as an example for others. How that child of God reacts to that illness could be a strong witness to others. It maybe to draw that sick one closer to the Lord themselves or it could be to draw one of God's elect unto salvation. Either way God receives the glory.

In times of disease God's own people often forget we have the Great Physician, Jesus Christ.

Please, understand, I am not saying don't go to the doctor. What I am saying is seek the Lord first. Ask the Lord to guide you as to who to call and on whom to rely. Then ask Him to give you peace about it all. Don't be like Asa, “yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.”

 

Praise ye the Lord!!!