2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
I have found that the Psalms are a rich storehouse revealing God’s attributes, His will for us, and the heart God would want us to have when responding to His sovereignty. PS 138: 1-3 from a wonderful prayer of thanksgiving is a great example of the latter revelation. “I thank You, Lord, with all my heart; I sing praise to You before the gods. I face Your holy Temple, bow down, and praise Your name because of Your constant love and faithfulness, because You have shown that Your name and Your commands are supreme. You answered me when I called to You; with Your strength You strengthened me.” The Psalmist here acknowledges God’s attributes and that God is the Source for all that is good in His life. He approaches God with humility in doing this. That is what our Jehovah Rapha wants us to do. We might ask what the Psalmist means when he speaks of strength. The Lord knows that we must often face hardship in our lives. Certainly the Psalmist refers to the strength God gives us through His guidance, encouragement, and healing in saying what he does. The underlying message that this passage gives us is the acknowledgment that God really does equip us to endure suffering, so that we can advance in our sanctification and join Him in His work.
We know that there are times when God reprimands His children. IS 1: 4-6 is an example. [God speaking through Isaiah], “You are doomed, you sinful nation, you corrupt and evil people! Your sins drag you down! You have rejected the Lord, the holy God of Israel, and have turned your backs on Him. Why do you keep on rebelling? Do you want to be punished even more? Israel, your head is already covered with wounds, and your heart and mind are sick. From head to foot there is not a healthy spot on your body. You are covered with bruises and sores and open wounds. Your wounds have not been cleaned or bandaged. No medicine has been put on them.” What a bleak passage when people don’t have faith this is! In this case, Isaiah is trying to cause Israel to acknowledge the sin of idolatry and rebellion toward God. PS 38: 1-3 reveals the pain sin brings, but also demonstrates the Psalmist’s example of turning to God for relief. “O Lord, do not punish me in Your wrath! You have wounded me with Your arrows; You have struck me down. Because of Your wrath, I am in great pain; my whole body is diseased because of my sins. I am drowning in the flood of my sins; they are a burden too heavy to bear.” The key phrase in this passage is “my whole body is diseased because of my sins.” That tells Jehovah Rapha that the person praying acknowledges he is responsible for the pain he is having. We must ask ourselves if we acknowledge our own sin when we approach God for relief.
I didn’t quote these passages to leave you depressed. When put together with God’s response to these fervent prayers, we can get a picture of just how loving and compassionate our Jehovah Rapha really is. Israel would have been only a memory of a nation that existed in the past the way Edom and Moab are, if God didn’t love her. No single nation has endured the prejudice and persecution over the last three thousand years that Israel has and continued to exist. We must also focus on the greatest gift of God’s grace which was His response to the prayers not only of sinning Israel but of all sinners. RO 3: 23-25, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But by the free gift of God’s grace, all are put right with Him through Christ Jesus, Who sets them free. God offered Him, so that by His death He should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in Him.” JN 3: 16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that that everyone who believes in Him may never perish but have eternal life.”
In case there was ever any doubt that Jehovah Rapha can and will heal, His second personality of the Trinity, demonstrated that to us during His incarnation on earth. JN 5: 5-9, 14, “A man was there [near the Sheep gate in Jerusalem- a pool called Bethzatha] who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time, so He asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ The sick man answered, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.’ Immediately, the man got well; he picked up his mat and started walking….Afterward, Jesus found him in the Temple and said, ‘Listen, you are well now; so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’” God stated His purpose for us through Paul in RO 12: 2, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by the renewal of your mind.” When that happens, Jehovah Rapha is at work bringing the greatest healing and blessings one’s life can ever have to him. That is a good reason for us to spend time evaluating our lives without guilt, confessing any sin still in them, and acknowledging the need to turn to Jehovah Rapha Who really is the true and only Source of spiritual healing.
PRAYER: O Lord, one great lesson that You give us through the Scriptures is the connection that exists between sin and pain. In the Psalms You allow us to see the way You would like us to respond when we find ourselves in the predicament that sin brings to our lives. You love us and know the pain we are feeling when we are putting distance between You and ourselves. In Your wisdom, You sometimes allow us to feel that pain, because You know that it is the only thing that will bring us to the brokenness necessary to strip away our pride and turn to You. You are the only real Source of healing that we have, for it is You Who directs the hands of the medical profession when they treat us, and it is You Who offers us the encouragement we need to overcome adversity through prayer and Your word. The great sacrifice of Your Son on the cross is more than ample demonstration of Your love and grace. The example of Your Son healing a sinner who has been sick for 38 years gives us hope that You will respond with love and compassion when we humbly turn to You for relief. We dedicate ourselves to examining our lives to expunge even the most subtle of sin still remaining in them. We also dedicate ourselves to seeking You out when we need guidance and healing, thus acknowledging the greatness of Your power. We humbly offer You our adoration, worship, glory, honor, praise, trust, obedience, loyalty, and thanks. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at more aspects of how our Jehovah Rapha interacts with us to bring healing into our lives. Be assured that His love for each of us is beyond description. When we are troubled, we can always turn to Him, and He is only too willing to offer us the guidance and encouragement we need. While He sometimes must reprimand or convict us for our sinfulness, this is never done without righteousness or compassion. We can wish that all earthly parents would take this approach. Peter and I also send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn