The Exhibit That Cost Years of Health
"Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies." — Numbers 14:42
A Traveling Exhibition
In the 1970s a famous exhibition of artifacts from an Egyptian royal tomb toured widely. Enormous crowds saw it. Museums extended their hours. Ordinary people who had never visited a museum stood in line for hours.
A young medical student had always been fascinated by the materials described in the Old Testament — alabaster in particular — and had never had a chance to see any of them. Here was the opportunity.
Without stopping to ask the Lord whether she should go, she went. The exhibit was beautiful. She enjoyed it thoroughly.
Later that year her chronic health problem worsened sharply. For the next thirteen years she battled one major illness after another. As soon as the Lord healed her of one, another began. No amount of prayer, fasting, or ministry changed anything.
The Conversation That Explained It
Years later, married and still unwell, she mentioned the exhibit in conversation with her husband and asked whether he had ever seen it.
He had not — and, though he was not a believer at the time, he had deliberately stayed away because of what he knew of Egyptian history.
He explained that to protect royal tombs from robbers, powerful incantations were performed over them. Anyone who opened a tomb, entered it, or even looked upon the articles inside had a curse of death and destruction placed on him by the spirits set to guard it.
For centuries that was enough to keep robbers away. Later generations forgot the power of those incantations. The spirits did not forget.
She recalled what had happened to those involved in the original excavation of that particular tomb — how many of them died within a very short time afterward.
What She Did
She sat up in bed and dealt with it immediately.
She asked the Lord's forgiveness for going to see that exhibit without ever asking whether it was His will.
She took authority over the curse and commanded it broken in the name of Jesus.
She commanded every spirit associated with that curse to leave her at once and forever, in the name of Jesus.
Her health began to improve immediately. She was rarely ill afterward — stronger and healthier than she had ever been.
The Lesson to Take
The point is not that museums are forbidden or that Egyptian history is dangerous to study.
The point is the one she named herself: she went without ever asking the Lord whether it was His will for her to go.
It cost her thirteen years. And the remedy, once she understood, took about two minutes.
How many believers are enduring something that would end just as quickly if they knew where it started?
Point to Ponder
Thirteen years of illness ended in two minutes — once she knew what to address.
Verse to Remember
"In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." — Proverbs 3:6
Question to Consider
Did a long-running trouble in my life begin around the time of a trip, an exhibit, or a place I visited?
Today's Practice
Build a travel timeline. List every significant trip and every notable place you have visited — vacations, tours, exhibitions, sites, foreign travel.
Now overlay your health history and your major difficulties. When did the chronic problem start? What preceded it by a few weeks or months?
Look for coincidences of timing. They may mean nothing. They may mean everything.
Where you find one, deal with it exactly as she did:
"Father, forgive me for going there without ever asking You. In the name of Jesus Christ, I take authority over every curse placed on me at that place, and I command it broken now. I command every spirit associated with it to leave me at once and forever, in the name of Jesus. Lord, heal every damage that has been done."
Prayer
Father, I have gone where I wanted to go and asked You about none of it.
Show me where my troubles began. Take me back through my life and reveal any place I walked that opened a door I have been living with ever since.
Forgive me for going without asking. In the name of Jesus Christ, I break every curse placed on me at any place I have ever visited, and I command every spirit associated with those curses to leave me and my household now and forever.
Lord, heal what has been damaged in the years I have carried this. Restore my strength. Restore the time that has been taken.
And teach me to ask before I go. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Ask before you go. It costs a moment; not asking can cost a decade.