“Lord Hear My Prayer, See My Tears And Answer Me!”

“Lord Hear My Prayer, See My Tears And Answer Me!”
I was fifteen. My oldman was was on his sick bed. He asked me to go call two family fathers. When they came they entered into small talks. Then he introduced the topic that was bothering him. They used proverbial language thinking I was too young to understand them. Yet I understood when my father said his sun was about to set.
Young as I was, I understood that my father was putting his house in order Today we emphasise on written wills, but in the past wills were preserved in orality. A will is an attempt to put one’s house in order. When somebody dies without putting his house in order, then he has created disorder for his descendants. It is important, especially when you are weighed down by sickness to put your house in order.
We are told that Hezekiah, king of Judah “became ill and was at the point of death.” Prophet Isaiah went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.'” Very hard and uncomfortable words for a sick young king!
When the king heard this, he did what is decried in most African cultures! “He turned his face to the wall…” From our own cultural perspective for a critically sick person to turn his back to the wall is a sign of giving up on life. Worst still is that you have turned your back on your family. If one happens to die in that position, an appeasement ritual would be needed to reconcile him to the living!
However, when Hezekiah turned his back to the wall, “…he prayed to the Lord, ‘Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.'” So saying, “Hezekiah wept bitterly.” What a good lesson to African Christians!
His prayer and cry did not go unanswered. The Lord answered his prayer and healed him and added fifteen more years to his life(II Kgs.20:1-7).
Hezekiah ruled Judah for twenty-nine years and was twenty-years old when he became King (II Kgs.18:2). This means by the time of his illness he was only about thirty-eight years old.
When Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus was sick he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that the Son of man may be glorified throught it”(Jn.11:4).
This is in the same way that king Hezekiah’s sickness did not end in death when he prayed to the Lord. It wasn’t because he had walked before the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and had done what was good in God’s eyes. No, it was for God’s glory.
My friend, it is in the same way that, no matter the storms you are passing through, no matter the kind of sickness that is troubling you Jesus is telling you today: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory…”
To you who are strong and healthy, keep a testimony for your days of trouble: Walk before the Lord faithfully and with wholehearted devotion. Do what is good in his eyes. And when days of sorrow comes learn to put your house in order by seeking the face of God in Christ Jesus!
Sunday prayer: Lord hear my prayer and see my tears and answer me at my point of need. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!
Babila Fochang.