Book The Essentials of
Effective Prayer
Week 2, Day 9, pages
29-30
Scripture: Exodus
15:26; Psalm 107:17-21
Who does God say He is in
Exodus 15:26?
Rapha, the Healer.
From Vine's: To heal may be described as restoring to
normal. Not only are human diseases
healed but also
- bad water is restored to normal or healed (2 Kings 2:22),
- salt water is healed or made fresh (Ezek 47:8),
- even pottery is healed or restored (Jer. 19:11).
A large number of the
uses of rapha express the healing of a
nation-- such healing not only involves God's grace and forgiveness but also
the nation's repentance.
Divine discipline
leads to repentance and healing.
False prophets are
condemned because they deal only with the symptoms and not with the deep
spiritual hurts of the people (Jer 6:14, 8:11).
My thoughts:
When God heals, He
deals with my spiritual hurts not just the symptoms of those hurts. He restores me, makes me whole again. Like with the potter, He starts over with the
clay until it is a whole and useful vessel.
Thank You, Lord!
Also, related to
physical diseases, I can see a little more clearly why physical diseases are
sometimes healed only with physical death.
The ultimate physical healing is death, but sometimes the physical
disease or pain causes us to look to the root.
For example, if we have high blood pressure, perhaps we need to change
the way we relate to one other and to the Lord-- a root cause. If we have Type II diabetes, perhaps we need
to look at the way we relate to food-- a root cause. When we look at these root causes, we begin
to see lusts and sin and we begin to seek the Healer Who heals us at the root.
And I see diseases
like AIDS (where the cause most of the time is because of sexual immorality or
drug use) as God's mercy. Most of the
people who contract those diseases (except, of course, for unborn children) need
spiritual healing, and the physical disease causes them to look beyond their
lusts to the root of their behavior. It
is at the root of that behavior that God heals.
I hope I'm making sense :-)
What did you learn from
marking the references to fools in Psalm 107?
A fool/eviyl
(191)
- one who despises wisdom
- one who mocks when guilty
- one who is quarrelsome
- one who is licentious
After
writing "my thoughts" above, I researched the words transgression and iniquity and found indeed we are afflicted because of
- iniquity/`avon (5771), which is perversity and depravity as well as
- transgression/pesha`(6588) which is the willful deviation from, and therefore rebellion against, the path of godly living.
Why did they cry out, or
pray, to God?
Because of their
distress.
Again, I see that
disease as the result of sin as God's mercy, bringing people to the place where
they are distressed enough to cry out to God.
This word cry out/za`aq ( 2199) is the same word used in Exodus 2:23 when the
children of Israel cried out for help because of their bondage.
Vine's
says, this word "is perhaps most frequently used to indicate the 'crying
out' for aid in time of emergency, especially
'cyring out' for divine aid…The word may imply
- a 'crying out' in distress (1 Sam. 4:13),
- a 'cry' of horror (1 Sam. 5:10), or
- a 'cry' of sorrow (2 Sam. 13:19)."
What actions did God take in
response to their prayer?
He delivered them out
of their distresses. Lyn mentioned that
God doesn't necessarily keep us from
evil but rather delivers us from
evil. I believe she was addressing the
times that evil is not caused by anything we do but rather it is just around
us. In this verse, however, the
distresses we may experience would be caused by our foolishness; and even in
those times when we are foolish, if we repent and cry out to God, He will
deliver us. What a wonderful message to
share with those who are experiencing the consequences of their sin. What a wonderful word for us when we are
experiencing the consequences of our sin, amen?
Not only did He
deliver them, but He made them whole; He healed/rapha
them. Again, it may be that the physical
condition remains but the spiritual wholeness is really what matters, isn't
it? God will restore us to right
relationship with Him.
Discuss how understanding
God's role as your healer might affect your prayers.
When I pray for
physical healing for someone, I must realize that I may be praying for the
ultimate healing of death. This actually
happened with my own father, who was quite ill.
His healing was death.
Also, as I pray for
healing, I need to accept the fact that God heals at the root level. Sometimes He may heal physical disease but
sometimes He may not. But when I see the
healing at the root level, I can be satisfied, knowing that He has heard and
answered. I'll share a rather personal
example.
My 14-year-old
daughter suffers from something called Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS). Every month she throws up about 30 times in
24 hours, needs to be hospitalized for hydration, and takes another week to
recover. At age 12, she weighted about
80 pounds/36 kg. This went on for about
three years (from age 10 through 13), every month, sometimes more often. I hated to see her go through this. Her teeth started getting cavities, her
throat hurt from the bile she was vomiting.
I have to admit that I was getting mad at God. Why?
Why did she need to go through this?
And I felt so helpless, as there was nothing anyone could do (so the
doctors told us). I prayed but she still
threw up. I stopped praying with her
because it seemed… well, useless.
To make a long story
short, one day while she was lying in the hospital bed (and I was feeling so
helpless), I asked her, "What can I do for you?" Usually she would shake her head slowly,
meaning "just leave me alone."
But this time she said through her dry lips, "Fix my
pillow." I was so happy that there
was something I could do to help her! So
I bent over her head (oh, dear, I'm crying) to fix her pillow and I just
started hugging her and thanking her for giving me something to do to help
her. Of course, I started crying and
told her I was mad at God for not healing her.
Her eyes popped open wide and she said, "Mommy, I'm not mad at
God. I'm just sick. Don't be mad at God." I was the one who needed spiritual
healing!
My daughter still
suffers monthly from CVS but not to the degree that she did from ages 10
through 13. In other words, she only
throws up violently now about twice a year and is able to control the symptoms
with some over-the-counter medications as well as Mountain Dew (can you believe
that's a medicine?). I am so thankful
that she is gaining weight and feeling better, and most of all, that she is not
mad at God… like I was.
All this to say that
sometimes the disease shows us what's in our hearts. In my daughter's case, there was no guile
[although there was bile in her mouth :-)] but in my case there was. I needed to learn to trust God even through
the hard things He allows my children to experience. I pray I have learned that lesson well as I
am sure I will be tested again in another way to show me whether I have grown
in trusting Him.
Thank you for reading
this testimony.
May the Lord continue
to heal all of us at the root level so we can be whole vessels ready for
furthering His kingdom.
Linda
Moderator
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