2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today we continue our examination of God as Jehovah Rapha, the God Who heals, by delving into a story that reveals how God interacts with people. This story and some others I will be sharing in upcoming messages will reveal to us how God implements His various attributes. I am convinced that when we understand this, our lives will be enriched by it. The first story is found in 1 CH 21: 1-17 begins with David taking the census and leads into the description his purchase from Araunah’s threshing place to establish an altar to God in 1 CH 21-18-28. 1CH 21: 1, “Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census…” We can see this is another glimpse we are getting of the spiritual warfare that continues to go on between the forces of good led by God and those of evil led by Satan. This census was accomplished under orders from David and with Joab’s assistance. 1 CH 21: 6-8, “Because Joab disapproved of the king’s command, he did not take any census of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. God was displeased with what had been done, so He punished Israel. David said to God, ‘I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly.’”
God’s response to this was a combination of taking Parental leadership with compassion. Through the prophet, Gad, He gave David three choices of punishments instructing him to choose one. The choices were: 1) three years of famine; 2) three months of running away from the armies of Israel’s enemies; or 3) three days during which the Lord attacks David with His sword and sends an epidemic on Israel [1 CH 21: 12]. David’s response revealed the faithful trust that he had in God. To Gad, he said, ‘I am in a desperate situation! But I do not want to be punished by men. Let the Lord Himself be the One to punish me, because He is merciful’” (13). The Lord chose the epidemic, and 70, 000 Israelites died. While this may seem cruel, it was a small proportion of Israel’s total population and preserved their king’s life. While God felt angry, He aborted His action to destroy Jerusalem right when His Angel was standing at the location of the Jebusite, Araunah’s, threshing stone at the highest point on Mt. Moriah (15).
David saw the Angel standing in midair, holding His sword in his hand, ready to destroy Jerusalem. At that time, David and the leaders of the city wearing sack cloth, bowed low, with their faces touching the ground. David confessed that he was responsible for taking the census, asked God to punish only him and his family, and offered intercession for the people (16-17). 1 CH 21: 18-19, “The Angel of the Lord told Gad to command David to go and build an altar to the Lord at Araunah’s threshing place. David obeyed the Lord’s command and went, as Gas had told him to.” It was then that David purchased the threshing place from Araunah “paying a full price” so he could build an altar to the Lord there (22). Later in (27) we are told that the Angel of the Lord put His sword away. Later when David prayed there after building the altar, the Lord sent fire from heaven to burn the sacrifices on that altar.
This story is significant to us for many reasons. We see in it God’s willingness to demonstrate compassion and bring a kind of healing in response to a repentant man’s desire to approach Jehovah Rapha in humility, confess his sin, and turn away from it. God will sometimes change Him mind amidst a demonstration of His wrath. However, we can also see that our righteous Deity must also punish mankind’s sin, or He would be unable to demonstrate His righteousness [RO 3: 26]. The highest point of Mt. Moriah, which is also the highest point in Jerusalem later became the Temple Mount area. Today, as I write this message, negotiations are going on between Israel and the Palestinians that give me cause to feel very uncomfortable. One of the issues being discussed is whether or not Israel will cede control of the Temple Mount to the Palestinians under Yasir Arafat in return for a cessation of violence that has been going on. Land for peace exchanges are bad enough, but I can’t help but feel that such an agreement if consummated would be an affront to God! Why must mankind test God’s compassion to this degree is something I will never understand. There are some who claim that because President Clinton only has three weeks more in office [as I write this message] that these negotiations are being rushed so as to be completed before Mr. Clinton leaves office. These are matters that demand we go to our Lord in prayer right away.
PRAYER: O Lord, You repeatedly show us that when we sin, You want us to approach You in humility, confess that sin, and repent of it. David did this, and You demonstrated Your compassion by changing Your mind about destroying Jerusalem. Your compassion has been revealed to us so many times, even through we do not deserve it. On behalf of all who believe in You or who may come to faith in You during their lives, I offer this prayer of intercession: ‘Dearest Lord, please bring wisdom and healing from sin to those people foolish enough to consider letting the Temple Mount pass out of the hands of Your own people and into the hands of Your sworn enemies. In my heart, I know this isn’t Your will. It was an insult to You when construction of a third mosque was begun and debris from it containing valuable archeological information was dumped in the Kidron Valley recently. It will be a bigger affront to You to see the Temple Mount no longer in under Jewish control. For the sake of all who place our trust in You, I pray that You will take action to prevent these evil plans from moving forward. Please give us the strength to accept Your will over any earthly agenda in these matters. Amen.’ You deserve our obedience, faithfulness, trust, praise, thanks, and loyalty for all that You are in our lives. We humbly offer these along with our worship and adoration to You today and always. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at some more stories that reveal the interactions of our Jehovah Rapha with mankind. Our God is an awesome God Who really will reign forever after establishing His Kingdom. We can all look forward to that day, knowing that He has given each of us who believes and obeys Him the hope of the resurrection. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be with You Always,
Lynn