On Being Well

“The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.” Psalm 41:3

Who do we look to for advice when things go sideways or when our health fails? Is our first “call” to Jesus to govern our care? Or the doctor—-asap!!! I know many, including myself, who reach out to a friend who may respond to our distress, hoping for comfort and care and consoling words to confirm our suffering is real. But there is a friend who is closer than a brother—-It’s our brother, the Lord Jesus Christ—also known to many as Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. We can trust that He will oversee our plights.

“Jehovah”, which comes from the Hebrew word “Havah” can be translated as “to be” or “to exist” or “to become known”. Our LORD is known by us and He knows us. By adding the Hebrew  “Rapha”, Jehovah-Rapha means “to restore” or “to heal” in faith, to be healed now and to know His healing. One of the first times God revealed Himself as our Healer was through a miracle that some may, today, call a chemical experiment that saved the Israelites when they were freed from slavery in Egypt. As they wandered around the desert, searching for their promised land, God was able to make water drinkable from a bitter river by commanding them to throw a piece of wood into it so they could be healed.

Now let’s read the insightful Matthew Henry’s Commentary on this story in Exodus 15:22-27:

“In the wilderness of Shur the Israelites had no water. At Marah they had water, but it was bitter; so that they could not drink it. God can make bitter to us that from which we promise ourselves most, and often does so in the wilderness of this world, that our wants, and disappointments in the creature, may drive us to the Creator, in whose favour alone true comfort is to be had. In this distress the people fretted, and quarrelled with Moses. Hypocrites may show high affections, and appear earnest in religious exercises, but in the time of temptation they fall away. Even true believers, in seasons of sharp trial, will be tempted to fret, distrust, and murmur. But in every trial we should cast our care upon the Lord, and pour out our hearts before him. We shall then find that a submissive will, a peaceful conscience, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost, will render the bitterest trial tolerable, yea, pleasant. Moses did what the people had neglected to do; he cried unto the Lord. And God provided graciously for them. He directed Moses to a tree which he cast into the waters, when, at once, they were made sweet. Some make this tree typical of the cross of Christ, which sweetens the bitter waters of affliction to all the faithful, and enables them to rejoice in tribulation. But a rebellious Israelite shall fare no better than a rebellious Egyptian. The threatening is implied only, the promise is expressed. God is the great Physician. If we are kept well, it is he that keeps us; if we are made well, it is he that recovers us. He is our life and the length of our days. Let us not forget that we are kept from destruction, and delivered from our enemies, to be the Lord’s servants. At Elim they had good water, and enough of it. Though God may, for a time, order his people to encamp by the bitter waters of Marah, that shall not always be their lot. Let us not faint at tribulations.“

When was the last time you enjoyed our Living Water?

When we suffer, we go through a dry desert of inner-quandry, often deceiving ourselves through inner self-condemning  thoughts. Or maybe you are carrying someone else’s guilt? Or overthinking an issue? The pain you endure has a metaphysical component of thought. But God, through His loving Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will fill us with living water (John 4:10-11, 7:37-38) and repair our wrongful inner views of self, giving us the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). His voice through the Word and the Spirit realigns us to what is indeed true and good in our lives while causing us to lay down our sinful pride or self-righteousness, or when we only depend upon ourselves (or our nearby advisors through texting) or the world and not His knowledge and work in us through the Holy Spirit.

When was the last time you asked your able and available Jehovah-Rapha to heal you? I’m here for you, so contact me to be counseled towards health and wholeness in Christ. He is the one that fulfills us as no one else can. Cindasaid@me.com

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

“My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27