What is ailing you?  Such an interesting phrase to be found in the Bible.  This question is raised in Genesis 21:17 to Hagar.  “What is ailing you” sounds like the Angel of the Lord does not know the answer.  After all, He is the one who spoke this to Hagar in the middle of her fear for Ishmael.  (Ishmael is her son.)  Could it be the angel of the Lord was asking a question of her faith?  Hagar was in such a place of fear and loss.  She was an obedient woman, a slave woman, bought by Abraham and Sarah to serve at their will.  Sarah had willed she be a surrogate mother and have a child fathered by Abraham to fulfill a promise made to them by God.  Hagar had obeyed her masters and found herself now in a desperate situation.  She and her son Ishmael were expelled from the master’s house and left to die in the wilderness.   Now the Angel of the lord was asking her what is ailing you?  Really? 

There seems to be another reason for the question.  In the next sentence he says, Fear not, God has heard and sees it all. (my interpretation).

God hears and sees it all in your life too.  The Psalmist said God bends down to hear.  He is bending down today to hear what you have to say and to ask, “What is ailing you?”  The creator of heaven and earth declares “Fear not.  I hear you.”  He is with you.  He is near you.  He is aware of the situation you are.  You can fear not and hold on to faith that he will redeem this situation you are in today.  You will be forever changed. 

Terry 

I rode in the car during the early morning hours on a trip Vidalia, not to pick sweet onions, as the city is known for, but to be with Terry during his eleventh heart cath. You have to be around the world of heart disease to get the language down to expressions such as heart cath, defib, afib, bypass, etc.  I can't explain them exactly, but I have a general knowledge because my husband, Terry, had a quadruple bypass in 2004.
In the car on this black morning, I tried to go back sleep. No such luck.  Terry was pale.  I asked him if I could drive but he said no.  I have learned no means no so I did not resist. But I somehow knew that he was sicker than what he eluded to.
Finally about twenty miles out he said, "Can you drive."
My heart skipped a beat for I know he always drives, no matter what.  We changed seats and I felt myself slip into such fear.  The kind of fear that turns positive thoughts and faith into a crumpled mass of what ifs.
It was during this time of year almost to the exact date that Terry's mother passed away from a heart attack.  His brother was driving her to the hospital but she just couldn't make it.  Shocked by the event the whole family has very little to say about it even after twenty two years.
All of the fear and dread of that night flooded my soul and I was reliving every moment of the ride to the hospital with his mother even though I wasn't on the original ride.
I do know what to do when fear grips me, so in my heart I began to sing.  It didn't seem to release my fear and I thought I would loose composure for sure until I heard Jesus say, "He's not going to die today."
Now I know what you must be thinking.  But I am not hearing voices in my head.  I head Jesus in my spirit.  I heard Him speak peace to my life in the midst of the fear. He soothed my pain in an instant.
Maybe you think this was a fluke and I was having a panic attack or anxiety about nothing.  The doctor said Terry had a blockage of the killing kind in the only artery that feeds his left side and right side of his heart.  (This sounds impossible, but it was the graphed artery from the bypass that goes around his heart from the left to the right.)
As I heard what the doctor said, I marveled at the compassion of God to intervene in my life and of course Terry's life.  Why would He speak those words to me?  I don't know.  I can't say, but I do know this I am forever changed...and so is Terry.