Turning to the Wall

UV 960/10,000 Turning to the Wall Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. Isaiah 38 v 2 King Hezekiah humbled himself when he heard the prophet Isaiah’s words that he was going to die and that he was not going to recover from the illness he was suffering from at the time. He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. As a result, the Lord cancelled the prophecy that he would not recover and extended his life by fifteen years. Jews to this day pray after this fashion at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. But the Lord does not want us to wail but to repose our confidence that He alone can restore us in the thing that we are seeking whether in matters of healing or in some other matter. We do not have to fight with our back to the wall or feel like we have been driven to the corner. Truly, as the song says, “ God will find a way where there seems to be no way.” Turning to the Wall is not a daily practice. In desperate situations or in the life threatening situations, we are called to turn to the wall and pray. It involves completely surrendering ourselves to the Lord, knowing that help or resolution or solution cannot come from any other quarter other than the Lord Himself. It is one of those few moments in life when we know that we could not have pulled ourselves through except by the intervention of the Lord. Turning our face to the wall implies seeking the Lord’s face, entering His presence to lay before Him the problem or issue we are facing. Gideon laid before the Lord his fleece asking the Lord to confirm his call to leadership of Israel against the Midianites. When we cry out to the Lord in our pain and anguish or in our doubt and confusion, He will hear us and give us deliverance or guidance on which way we ought to proceed. We do not have to wait till we hit a wall or a dead end before we turn to the Lord. God answers our prayer but not necessarily in the way we would expect. The wall is a metaphor for Jesus. He is like a wall of protection, comfort and salvation around us. The bricks or stones that make up this wall are the promises and commandments of the Lord. We can hide behind this wall or lean on this wall. Nothing is too small or insignificant. Nothing is too big, difficult or impossible for Jesus. In every situation that Jesus faced during His earthly sojourn He remained highly practical and grounded. He could teach the master fisherman how to fish. Today, He can teach the leader, the management expert, the scientist, the physician, the police officer, the teacher, the student, the writer. Hence, we can expect practical help and support from the Lord in every situation we face. When a certain member of my family faced a health challenge compounded with a business crisis, the Lord gave him this promise, “ Turn to the wall and pray. I will heal you and extend your life. I will deliver you from your debts.” The Lord is, has been and will always be faithful to His promises. His life was extended even though doctors had given him only six months to live as he was in the terminal stage of cancer. Prateep V Philip