Day 36: Psalm 103

A couple of weeks ago, I got word that a very dear friend of mine had contracted COVID-19 and had been given slim chance of survival.

I hadn’t seen him much over the years, but he was the first person to mentor me, showing up every Friday at 11am for years to buy me a meal and take me deep into the Scriptures. My prayer for him over the last few weeks has been this:

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5

Yesterday, that prayer was answered. After being in a coma for weeks, breathing through a ventilator, he finally tested negative and came home. When I watched the video of the nurses lining the hospital floor to applaud his exit while they played “Eye of the Tiger”, it was impossible not to cry. In this tired old world, it seems like 2020 hasn’t delivered much good. This was good. This was a miracle. This is God answering prayer. Let us be reminded that God is able to heal all diseases, and I’m sure that raises a thousand questions about why He doesn’t heal them all.

Let us be reminded that simply because I can’t think of an answer to that question doesn’t mean there isn’t one, it just is further proof that I’m not God. Let us be reminded that just like my friend, this situation will come to an end, and one day, we will get to go back to something familiar just as he did yesterday. Praise the Lord, my soul.

Today, may your youth be renewed, and may you be crowned with love and compassion.

Jared