2 Kings 20:1-11
"20 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’”2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” 7 And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”
8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” 9 And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” 10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.”11 And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz."
The basic fallacy underlying the distorted idea some have about healing is to assume that ultimate happiness or well-being lies in not being sick, and not dying, or that mere length of days by itself is necessarily good. We have only, however, to read on a little in the story of Hezekiah to realise that the extra fifteen years Hezekiah was granted through prayer were scarcely a credit to him. Indeed, they clouded and besmirched an honourable record, and brought his reign to a disreputable close. If the hymn writer is right when he says, 'He liveth long that liveth well' then it had been better for Hezekiah never to have uttered such a prayer as this, but to have set his house in order and go to meet His Maker. There is a solemn verse in the Psalms, (106:15) 'He gave them their request; but sent leanness to their soul' and this is as true of requests for healing as of anything else. It is possible to 'persuade' God to answer prayer to our hurt, and to interfere with purposes which have been sovereignly ordained for our good. This does not, of course, mean that we are not to ask for healing or for any other blessing, if it is in His will to bestow it, but it should teach us to seek discernment as to His will before bringing our insistent entreaties to His throne.