2006-03-24
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
We continue looking into the subject of the first index sentence of the Lord's Prayer, MT 6: 9-13. Remember that index sentences are the way that people learned the Lord's Prayer in the past. Their importance is not diminished by more modern methods, and the time we are taking with this subject is God's way of helping us to have a deeper understanding of Christ's great lessons for us on how to pray. There's a lot He wants us to understand about, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name..." We've already learned that God is referred to by a number of names, e.g. El Elyon, "God is Sovereign;" Eloheim, a plural name indicating "Creator" or "Everlasting God;" El Shaddai, "Almighty" or "All-sufficient One;" Jehovah, "I Am Who I Am;" El Roi, "God Who Sees All;" Jehovah Jirah, "God Who Provides;" Jehovah Nissi, "God is my Banner;" Adonai, "Lord of All;" Jehovah Tsidkenu, "God is Righteous." Today, we'll look at some another of God's wonderfully descriptive names, Jehovah Rapha.
A name used for God that is especially important is Jehovah Rapha meaning "God Who Heals." As sinners, we are in need of spiritual healing. As human beings, we are in need of physical healing when illness strikes or for whatever reason, our physical bodies begin to break down. As people dealing with never more tremendous challenges to our emotional wellbeing, we are in need of emotional healing. As a society fraught with temptations, we are in need of God's healing direction to prevent all of us from the slippery slope of giving in to the evil that is available to us. While doctors and modern medicine can often turn the course of serious illnesses, we must understand that their technology originated as ideas put in the minds of researchers by God. There may be medical researchers who deny this, but that doesn't change the ultimate truth. The same can be said for psychiatry and the other mental sciences. As for our spirits, the finest pastors, church teachers, and leaders must acknowledge that their talent for what they do ultimately comes from God. Certainly, a writer like myself would be a fool not to believe that every word written that does a reader any good comes from God. My job is not to heal people's souls; it's to set up the conditions where upon the Holy Spirit can heal broken or troubled souls.
As sin ravaged Christ's body on Calvary, so it has ravaged men, women, and children throughout the ages. David wrote in PS 22: 14-15, 19, 24, 27-28, & 31, "My strength is gone, gone like water spilled on the ground. All my bones are out of joint; my heart is like melted wax. My throat is as dry as dust, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have left me for dead in the dust...O Lord, do not stay away from me!...He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering; He does not turn away from them, but answers when they call for help...All nations will remember the Lord from every part of the world they will turn to Him. The Lord is King, and He rules the nations...People not yet born will be told, 'The Lord saved His people.'" This passage takes us from a statement of the problem, to David's acknowledgment that he can't find relief without God's help, to the ultimate truth that all of us need to turn to Him, and finally, to the a statement of why the Lord's Prayer should begin and end with worship of the ultimate Sovereign, Source of good, and Healer in the universe. A connotation that I see in it is our need to imitate God as "healers" within the confines of the talents He gives us. Remember MT 5: 9, "Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called children of God." We all can't be medical doctors, but we all can be healers by modeling Christ's humility and the other fruits of the Spirit mentioned in GA 5: 22-23. Jeremiah looked to God and asked, JER 8: 22, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why, then, have my people not been healed?" expressing his sickness at heart at the disobedience of the Jewish people. What Jeremiah couldn't see is the long-range picture. The longer the Jews journeyed with God, the more they came to know His character and ways. Their revelation of that would be progressive, and it wasn't God's time yet (and still isn't) when the healing of the end times, painful as it will be, shall come. Then, society remaining in faith will attend the wedding feast of the Lamb [REV 19: 5-10].
One question about this important name for God, Jehovah Rapha remains. Have we asked Him for healing? Jeremiah expresses his desire by saying in JER 17: 14, "Lord, heal me and I will be completely well; rescue me and I will be perfectly safe. For You are the One I praise." There is no blaming God for all the world's ills in this, only acknowledgement of His ultimate ability to heal and praise for Him. JER 30: 15-17 lets us know that God punished Israel and will heal her. RO 11: 25 supports that. PS 147: 3 tells us God heals the broken-hearted. PS 103: 1-5 reminds us of God's love and willingness to heal us. MT 8: 16-17 reveals that Jesus heals many people. LK 4: 18-19 lets us know that Christ was sent to bring Good News to the poor, sight to the blind, and set free the oppressed. We are reminded in both IS 53: 5 and again in 1 PET 2: 24-25 that by Christ's wounds, we were healed. What blessing faith in Him brings!
PRAYER: O Lord, as a person living today, I must contemplate what God's names, especially Jehovah Rapha, means to me. If I am suffering from a physical ailment, have I looked sufficiently to You for relief? If I am plagued with insecurities, mental illness, emotional dysfunction of any kind, have I pleaded with You while praising You with reverence for release? If I am suffering from the consequences of immorality in my life, or I am questioning whether or not I can receive the blessings of faith in Christ, have I turned to You? These are questions which mankind needs to confront. In my own life, I have asked God to heal me from my painful physical ailment. There are times when He has a higher reason, that we don't understand initially, for not healing us until we go home to Him. Paul, in 2 COR 12: 7-9, shows us this-a passage [which I claim for my life]. "But to keep me from being puffed up with pride because of the many wonderful things I saw, I was given a painful physical ailment, which acts as Satan's messenger to beat me and keep me from being proud. Three times I prayed to the Lord about this and asked Him to take it away. But His answer was, 'My grace is sufficient, for my power is strongest when you are weak.' I am most happy, then to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me." This prayer wouldn't be complete without mention of the times when illness and even death has been used by God to reveal His and the Son's glory. We find this in the story of Lazarus in JN 11: 4 and again in the story of Christ's healing of the blind man in JN 9: 1-3. Dearest Father, Your ways are so much higher than ours, and understanding of them so very limited [IS 55: 8-9 and PS 139: 6]. You call us to have faith in You and to trust that You are always righteous. We claim Your blessings and acknowledge that You fill our lives with good things. Those who suffer and are in need of healing, no matter what kind and for what reason, can look forward to Your healing to be complete when You call us home to You. All we must do is endure in our faith. We worship, praise, adore, and thank You for Who You are and what You do. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.
We will continue to look at God's Hebrew names, in an effort to better understand why the Lord's Prayer teaches us to begin and end with worship. In doing so, the first index sentence makes more and more sense to us, and we will remember it better. All the time we spend on this is not wasted. Studying God's word and having an active prayer life allows our remarkable and unmatched God to reveal Himself and his goodness to us. Christ in His statement in JN 15: 13 elaborates in the new commandment of JN 13: 34-35 ["Love one another...As I have loved you..."] by saying, "The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give His life for them." That is what He did for us on the cross. If we are feeling the warmth of God's presence, His loving and healing embrace, then we are in touch with Him. My prayer for each of you today is that you can feel God's presence, guidance, direction, healing, awesome power, and all His other great attributes with you every minute of every day. It would be my hope that some day, we will all be fully healed and a newly-welcomed arrival in our home with Him for eternity. Imagine sitting at the wedding feast of the Lamb and knowing that there will be no more pain, suffering, evil, or reason to cry. For that is what REV 21: 4 reveals we can do. And all we have to do is believe in Christ and walk away from our past sins. Now that's love!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn