Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.”
Isaiah 38:21
This gives us a clue about Hezekiah’s illness. There was a boil, evidence of an infection raging in his body. And Isaiah told the king to apply a dressing on the infected area, using a cake of figs.
Hezekiah did not have the blessing of modern medicine, but this was the means that was available. God normally works through means, so use the means God has made available. Hezekiah prayed to God and he applied a cake of figs, and the Lord healed him.
You may have heard the story of the drowning man. A great storm came, and the riverbanks were about to burst. Everyone was ordered to evacuate. But the man said, “I trust in God. He will save me.”
The neighbours begged him to leave, but the man refused. Sure enough, the river burst its banks, and the man had to climb onto his roof. Then came a man in a rowboat to take him to safety. But the man said, “I trust in God. He will save me.”
The next morning, a helicopter dropped a rope ladder to pull the man to safety. The man refused. “I trust in God. He will save me.”
But the following day, waters rose higher than the house, and the man drowned. At the gates of heaven, the man said to an angel, “I believed in God. Why didn’t He save me?”
The angel replied, “God was the One who sent you the warning. He sent you the boat. And He sent you the helicopter!” God normally works through means, so we should use the means He has made available.
Are you making use of the means God has made available to you?
