He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.” [Exodus 15:26 (NLT)]
Jehovah Rapha, the “Lord who Heals You,” was the name of God proclaimed to the Israelites through Moses at Marah. Indeed, a God who could make the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers clean and raise Lazarus from the dead can heal any physical ailment.
Jehovah Rapha, however, doesn’t limit His healing to physical ailments; He can heal our emotional and spiritual brokenness as well. God made known this name of His as the Israelites were camped at Marah. For three days, they’d traveled in the desert without finding any water. When they arrived at Marah, the exhausted and thirsty group was disappointed to find the water undrinkable because of its bitterness. When Moses cried out to the Lord, God had him throw a piece of wood into the water to make it sweet. The Lord who Heals took the bitter out of the Israelites’ water and made it palatable.
Our Christian creeds speak of the resurrection of the dead and, in this Easter season, we often speak of Christ’s resurrection. As we sang out the words to “Resurrecting” last Sunday, I realized we don’t have to physically die to be dead. Bitterness, anger, shame, fear, depression, loss of faith and guilt can poison our hearts and take away life. We still may be breathing but we’re dead inside. The God who Heals, Jehovah Rapha, can take our ailing embittered hearts and restore them to health. As He did with the water at Marah, He can take poison and make it palatable. The Lord who Heals can transform the bitter in our lives into something bearable.
Jehovah Rapha, thank you for your healing grace. Take my brokenness—the dead and bitter parts of my life—and make them sweet. Resurrect me, dear Lord.
By Your spirit I will rise From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected king Is resurrecting me
In Your name I come alive To declare your victory
The resurrected king Is resurrecting me.
[“Resurrecting” (Elevation Music- Brown, Brock, Ntlele, Furtick and Joye)]
Last week, I started a new gratitude journal and thought back to when I first started keeping such a record of daily blessings. More than fifteen years ago, we were spending the entire winter in our Colorado mountain home. Having had the misfortune of breaking my knee the first day skiing, my outdoor pursuits were over for the season. Watching family and friends hustle out the door each morning, seeing their happy faces upon their return, and listening to them recount the day’s exploits became an invitation to my pity party. During a lonely afternoon, while everyone else was out having fun in the snow, I watched an Oprah show about gratitude. I was clearly in the need of an attitude adjustment so keeping a gratitude journal seemed a good idea. Every night, I listed five things for which I was thankful; some days it wasn’t easy but I kept at it. Later that winter, Oprah and several audience members shared some journal entries. Their entries were long, introspective and weighty while mine, for the most part, were simply a list of ordinary everyday things. People wrote of finding sacred spaces, authentic selves, true paths, and deep spirituality while I’d been grateful for figuring out how to manage the stairs in a multi-level house, chocolate chip cookies, seeing a cardinal on the deck, cable TV, and that the library had the Stephen King novel I wanted to read! My gratitude for pizza delivery, ibuprofen, warm fleece blankets and home-made granola seemed shallow when compared to the philosophic reflections that were shared. Some people had even fashioned beautiful hand-made books while others used handsome leather-bound journals—I was writing in a little appointment book we’d received from our accountant!
