Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” – Isaiah 38:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 11, 2013): Isaiah 38 & 39

I recently read an article on the benefits of quitting smoking. Our bodies are made in such a way that we actually start the healing process about twenty minutes after our last puff. So the idea is that it is never really too late to reap some of the benefits of quitting. And the benefits are amazing. Among others, the article listed better sex, a healthier stomach process, a decrease in the chances that you will develop arthritis, better and more restful sleep, a stronger heart and even the food you eat will taste better - all as a result of quitting smoking. And beyond that, we get a chance to be one of those annoying ex-smokers that are telling everyone else to quit smoking (Okay that might not be a benefit.) And yet, with all of the positives many of us still don’t quit. And that speaks volumes about the addictive qualities of cigarettes. We are hooked and quitting is hard.

So we often need to ask for help. And there are many aids out there to help us on our new journey. Some have a better track record than others, and yet some of us do not even try these avenues. The excuse that I hear the most is that “right now I am experiencing too much stress to even think about quitting.” But that excuse assumes that there are times when we are not experiencing stress, and I just haven’t noticed very many of those moments around recently. The bottom line is that to quit smoking, first we have to do something. Stopping the practice of buying cigarettes is one of the first recommended actions. But beyond that step, often we need to change our lifestyle, we have to avoid certain triggers if our new non-smoking behavior is going to take root. We need to avoid the things and the places where we liked to smoke. But something has to happen. The change in behavior needs to married to some specific action. We need it – it is just the way that we are designed.

Hezekiah moves from an illness that is going to end in death to an illness that can be cured with traditional medicine (a poultice made of figs was the approved way of handling a boil in the ancient world) very quickly. But the reality was that Hezekiah needed to do something if he was going to recover. Sitting back and just letting God heal him probably was not going to work. But too often we seem to read instructions like the ones found in this passage and think that we have discovered an ancient super cure. I can see the book now instructing us that a poultice of figs will cure everything from acne to cancer. But to make that suggestion misses the point. It was God that was going to cure Hezekiah, but God who created us knows that for lasting change to take root in our lives we need to be involved in the process. And so a poultice was developed as part of Hezekiah’s buy-in into the process.

So the instructions for Hezekiah were that he was to follow the standard medical process of the day. He was to use conventional medical wisdom to cure the illness – and let God move through that wisdom. Healing often seems to work this way. We do what we can – we act in support of the healing – and let God do the rest. Cults that believe that healing is an “only God” enterprise have missed some important biblical instructions. We need to do what we can do – and then allow God to move through the rest. And for smokers, that might be the secret to real healing in the process quitting smoking.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40