Struggling? Find healing in Jehovah-Rapha: There's power in the name! (part 4)
Feeling alone? Are you in a trial, difficult situation or feeling stuck in a “desert”? You are not alone. God knows where you are, and he will answer you when you cry out for him. Trials will come but they are never to hurt you; rather they are to build you up and develop spiritual endurance.
Understanding His names is a means to understand who God is—and, in turn, how important you are to Him.
First we looked at the names Elohim and Jehovah: the strong creator and the self-existent one. Next we concentrated on Adonai: owner, master, and supreme authority. After that, we considered Jehovah-Jireh: your provider. This week we learn about Jehovah-Rapha: the Lord who heals you.
The names of God convey the truth of His power, love, sovereignty and authority. He created you, loves you and His desire is to be intimately involved in your life. He sees you; he’s with you. Receive the grace and love of God, and feel His healing touch today.
Struggling today? Be encouraged! Nothing is impossible with God.
The Names of God
We have been looking at different names of God that are found in scripture. The four we’ve studied so far are:
Elohim - the strong creator.
Jehovah - the self-existent One, the I Am.
Adonai – owner, master, Lord and sovereign God over all creation.
Jehovah-Jireh - the self-existent One, the I Am, the Lord will provide.
This week, we’ll learn about Jehovah-Rapha: the Lord who heals.
Your Faith Grows as Your Knowledge of God Increases
As you grow in the knowledge of God, you will be able to trust and believe God in difficult times. Your faith, vision, knowledge, and expectation of God will grow as your understanding of God becomes increasingly more real.
Don’t settle for a small or limited view of God. He is Almighty, he is much bigger, greater and more powerful than you know or have ever experienced. He is all-powerful; all-knowing and ever-present. Today we are going to learn a little more about God than we already know.
“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’ 25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.’ 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water” (Exodus 15:22-27, NIV).
The Israelites were in a place of bitterness but God is wanting to teach them something. They needed to learn to trust God. They needed to learn a lesson of faith in God Almighty if they were to survive and be examples to the surrounding nations. Like Moses, they needed to trust and cry out to the Lord. Once again God proved himself faithful. God provided for his people and made the water drinkable.
Trials Teach and Strengthen you
Tests provide an opportunity to know more about God, learn about yourself, and grow in faith. Tests can either prove that we have learned a lesson, or they can reveal areas where we need to go back and study more. Spiritual tests prove our faith and knowledge of God as well as help teach us God’s faithfulness.
Tests and trials develop spiritual endurance. We learn more about the Lord when we stop grumbling and begin to trust and obey. No one can cheat on a spiritual test and think God will look the other way. So we need to stop trying and simply lean on God, listen and then in faith wait upon the Lord.
It is a rare thing to travel from mountain top to mountain top without a valley between them. Some valleys are deeper than others. Some stretch longer than others. Some tests come in rapid succession while others may be spaced out. God is faithful and honors those who trust and turn back to Him in faith during the mountain top and valley seasons. Something we often miss is that valleys are where mountain top experiences begin. Spiritual growth happens in the valleys.
Faith Leads to Healing
Do you choose to walk by faith when the world or family or friends say otherwise?
Faith is:
walking responsibly before the Lord in obedience.
trusting and not grumbling.
not running ahead of God in your own strength.
being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.
trusting God’s word.
trusting his leading and in his promises.
knowing God is able and willing to do the impossible and to trust him in a time of testing and trials.
Faith and trust don’t come easy. They are developed over time, grounded in obedience, formed in times of testing, bathed in prayer and times of worship. I believe it is crucial for believers to spend time in prayer and in the word; it is embedded in our hearts when we slow down and listen to God. This spiritually refreshes us and enables gaining spiritual insight and direction.
Sometimes struggles are necessary to survive and grow. The Israelite’s experience of bitter water was so they would learn something more of God. They learned that God is able to heal. They learned of Jehovah-Rapha: the Lord is our healer.
When we hear Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord is our healer, our minds often focus on physical healing. But the Lord can bring healing to every aspect of life:
He can heal a person emotionally.
He can heal a person of bitterness, envy, or pride.
He can deliver a person from anger or unforgiveness.
He can heal stress.
He can bring healing to relationships, marriages.
He can heal the land.
I believe Jesus came to bring spiritual healing first and foremost, and every other kind of healing is simply a greater blessing in addition to spiritual healing.
What Are you Dealing with?
Are you struggling with:
physical, emotional, mental, or some other pain?
some kind of trial or test?
feelings of depression or negativity?
feelings of fear and doubt?
You may feel like grumbling and see no way out of an impossible situation. Do you wonder “if God is Jehovah-Rapha, why hasn’t he healed me yet?”. I do not have that answer; but I know the one who does: the LORD.
Be encouraged
Be like Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6, look to the hills and you will see the army of God with chariots of fire. Lift up your spiritual eyes and know God is with you and he will deliver and heal you in your time of need.
The Israelites were facing physical death without water. A person can only live so long without water. God healing the water and making it drinkable was in a matter of speaking delivering the Israelites from physical death and imparting new life. Jesus’ death and resurrection is God delivering believers from spiritual death to new life in Christ.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God told the Israelites:
Listen carefully.
Do what is right.
Pay attention and keep all God’s commands and decrees.
Let me simply say: Nothing is impossible for God.
