Jehova-rapha: The Lord Who Heals
- Series: Names of God
- by: Rebekah Crosby 03/24/08
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1
I have a twin. She is my dad's sister, Deborah. She is older than me, but we often get mistaken for one another. Not only do I look like her, but I have a bit of her personality. Deborah's nickname was "Odie" from the Garfield cartoon because she was happy-go-lucky and not always "here". I guess you could say she was often in the clouds, and so she missed a lot. I am frequently called Deborah by my parents because of our similarities. My husband likes to tease me about "spacing out." It is true that I spend a good part of my day dreaming. My family also gave me the nickname "Stain" (along with a large bib on my 16th birthday with Bekah's Bib on it).
Unfortunately for me, this trait also comes with being careless and reckless. I do things in a hurry. If there's something to be broken, I will break it. If there's something to spill, I will spill it. If there's something to trip on, I will find it. My husband, who is quite meticulous, watches me with horror sometimes waiting for something to happen. It seems I have passed this trait down to my niece Eden Faith (3 yrs old). I can tell what she has eaten that day by looking at her face and hands.
I fell off of a tall work table while playing at a friend’s house and thought of giraffes as I fell (has absolutely nothing to do with the story, but I think it’s kinda funny). I had to get stitches in my chin from that fall at four years old. I was the first of my siblings to get them. I got them two more times after that. Hopefully Eden will not experience that aspect of her inheritance.
My chin did heal, but not without leaving a nice scar behind. I have a few other scars on my body to prove that I enjoyed my childhood thoroughly.
Life will beat you up. I don't believe it's possible to go through life without some battle wounds. If you're like me (who came by my personality innocently…poor Eden), you need a healer...but not just for your broken dishes or busted chin, but for your heart.
The enemy would like nothing better than to fool you into believing the answer is somewhere in this world. He will place all kinds of false doctors in your way that will offer you a cure. He will pretend to patch you up, but will actually give you more wounds.
You will not find healing in self-help books. You will not find it in your therapist's office. There is no healing to be had in another person. Neosporin is not the fix-all cream.
God has had to do a lot of healing in my life. I am a frequent patient in his office. He carefully takes my wounds into His great, big hands and works his magic. He puts the broken places back together. He closes the wounds. He puts healing balm on my pain.
Jehovah-rapha promises to mend your broken heart. He promises to rebuild the ancient ruins. There is nothing in your life that has happened that the Lord can't heal.
And you will heal perfectly -- without the scar.
Jehovah-rapha, we praise You because You are beautiful and powerful. We praise You for being our Maker and our Shepherd. We praise You because You love us enough to heal us. Thank You for mending us and making our hearts whole again. Thank You for satisfying us. Thank You that though we are reckless, You love us unashamedly. Help us to cling to You when we need healing, and give us discernment when the enemy tries to deceive us into trusting phony doctors.