There’s a saying that says, “Laughter is the best medicine.” And it’s commonly accepted that this saying originated from Psalm 17:22:

I’m not one to argue with God’s Word, let alone add to it, but lately, as I’ve sat in the hospital day after day, I’ve thought of another worthy saying: 

“Prayer is the best medicine.”

I would not say my prayer life is strong. It’s so far from where I would like it to be in terms of frequency and fervor. This has been a self-identified weakness for me for a while now. I’ve prayed for improvement in my prayer life while seeking to establish more habits to help me in it. I probably need to go read The User Manual for Prayer again.

But I don’t intend to get into all of that right now. All I want to establish is that prayer is the best medicine.

Think about it. Prayer is easy to administer; it can be taken anywhere at anytime and in multiple forms. You can take it by yourself, with others, or have others take it for you. And you can’t overdose on it.

Not to mention that done with faith in Christ, it works! Powerfully! It’s not a placebo. God changes the very reality around us in response to our prayers. Who are we that He would be mindful of us (Ps. 8:4)? We’re just motes of dust (Ps. 103:14)!

Prayer should be our first resort. We should take it especially when we are in need but even when we aren’t. 

When it comes to our health, answer to prayer may replace our need for medicine, or medicine may be the answer to our prayers. 

Who knows? Maybe we would find that a prayer a day keeps the doctor away. 

Sometimes God’s answers to our prayers may be no. (I worked through that, here.) Even so, we should be thankful to know more of His will and trust that He is working it out perfectly. Then we get right back to praying, like the persistent widow, but with our prayers adjusted to align with what we’ve learned.

Yes, prayer is the best medicine because our Lord is the Great Physician.