“I Will Heal Thee”

Hezekiah was very ill. The prophet, Isaiah, visited him and told him that he would not recover. He was going to die.

But Hezekiah wasn’t willing to accept that answer. Laying on his bed, he turned toward the wall and offered the following heartfelt prayer: “I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.”

While Isaiah was still in the palace, God told him to go back and give Hezekiah an updated message: “Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee.” (See 2 Kings 20:1-7.)

We would all like to receive an answer like that, when we or someone we love is ill. Obviously, it doesn’t always happen that way. But a core characteristic of our God is that He is a healer.

Healing was a significant part of the Savior’s visit to the American continent. After the destruction which coincided His death, a group of people heard Him say, “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13, italics added).

Near the end of the first day of his ministry, He offered a more personal invitation: “Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy” (3 Nephi 17:7-8, italics added).

Commenting on this invitation, Sister Bonnie H. Cordon said:

He set no limits and called for all “that are afflicted in any manner.” I love that nothing is too big or too small for Jesus Christ to heal.

He knows our suffering as well and calls, Bring forth the anxious and depressed, the weary, the prideful and misunderstood, the lonely, or those who “are afflicted in any manner.”

“Come Unto Christ and Don’t Come Alone,” General Conference, October 2021

Shortly after, He affirmed that His invitation even extends to those are not currently willing to be healed:

Ye shall not cast [the unrepentant person] out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.

3 Nephi 18:32

Elder Patrick Kearon recently testified:

Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible. He came here to make the impossible possible, the irredeemable redeemable, to heal the unhealable, to right the unrightable, to promise the unpromisable. And He’s really good at it. In fact, He’s perfect at it.

“He Is Risen with Healing in His Wings,” General Conference, April 2022

Today, I will be grateful for the Savior’s miraculous healing power. I will plead for healing, both for myself and for others. I will remember that His healing power is not limited to physical illness, and I will strive to be aware of the many ways that He is healing us.