God is Our Healer

by Marcie Dennis

2 Kings 20:5 - “Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord." The Hurts We Face I want to start off by addressing the reasons why we require a healer. I can’t list all the ways in which we will be hurt in this world. You don’t even need my help to think of examples of it in your life, some even possibly from today already. This is part of the sinful world we live in right now and that’s a fact of life.

The greatest trauma of my life occurred when I was 19 years old, and my beloved father died of cancer after a brief 6-month battle.

It rocked my world as the ground was gone beneath me. I adored my father and as much as any man can try, he deserved it.

I was left reeling to find my footing in this dreaded new kind of normal I had to live with grief. I can’t go into every ache, every memory, every trigger, and every tear spilled in the two years I walked intensely through grief, but I knew God was the way out and that he would restore my soul.

Do you know the verse in Romans 8:26 that says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”? I never understood that concept until I experienced it for myself.

I’ll never forget the night where the sorrow hurt so deeply that all I could do was sit on the stone bench by the water and groan as the tears streamed down my face. I cried aloud with guttural tones I’d never before uttered. It felt as if it would never end. My Spirit cried out to God as a physical ache, and I had no words to express the depths of my sorrow.

But God knew. He heard me and he saw me in my need. He was right there with me, walking me through the journey of healing.

Why Does God Allow us to Hurt? “It’s not easy to think that God allows any of us to suffer. But there is a difference between allowing us to suffer and willing us to suffer. Maybe somebody needs to be reminded today that God our Father does not will for any of his children to suffer just for suffering’s sake. God isn’t a bully. But because he loves us, he DOES will for us to know him in a deeper way. And he does will for his name and his renown to be made known through our lives. Simply put, suffering can bring us to our knees in a way that comfort and contentment can’t. And I just wonder if it’s possible that we make more room for God to receive the greater glory in our lives when we are crushed on all sides?” The Power of Knowing God, by Tony Evans

God is refining us as gold is purified by allowing us to go through the fires of this life to burn off the impurities, so we reflect him more and more after every trial.

Just think of how glorified God was when Shad, Rack & Benny made it through the great fire that killed the guards who tossed them in! Sometimes, other people’s sin creates circumstances of hardship in our lives. King Nebuchadnezzar did not know God so his sin of pride caused a hard choice for these men. Because Shad, Rack, & Benny chose to endure through the pain cause from another man’s since, a king's heart was won and whole nation was ordered to worship the one true God because surely if these men survived the fire, he was worthy of all praise. (Daniel 3:16-28).

I know that because of the experience my family and I walked through with my father’s cancer and subsequent death, people have been brought to faith in God. Because of the life my father lived and how he handled his cancer leading to his death, people saw Jesus in him. They wanted that same peace and assurance my father had that he would soon be in heaven with his maker perfectly healed.

When I questioned God about why my father had to die and why our prayers for healing didn’t work, his answer was so, so sweet.

He told me (as a quiet voice inside my head) “I did heal him. I healed him perfectly.”

In that moment I threw my hands into the air in joy at that truth and cried simultaneously for my loss. I believe my father died because number one, it brought God glory, and it took me closer to God than a pleasant life ever could. Number two, we live in a sin filled world and sin got its hold on my Daddy.

In the end, God got the ultimate glory because His son got to come home perfectly healed. Satan couldn’t touch that promise.

Some Hurts Require Professional Help Some wounds hurt us so deeply that we need to seek professional help. There is no shame in this. I believe it so strongly that I’m going to repeat myself. There is No Shame in seeking out professional help.

I had a mentor who was trained in grief counseling who met with me weekly before and after my father passed. She was instrumental in helping me comb through all grief threw at me. I also saw two different counselors in the first two years. They each helped me in different ways.

When we have wounds too deep to heal on our own, we need to seek professional help. If you were busy cooking dinner one night and the knife slipped and cut you to the bone, wouldn’t you immediately go to the hospital? The same should be true with our mental health. When we have wounds deeper than everyday life pain, we need the assistance of others to stich our hearts back together and be made whole. Galatians 6:2 states we should carry each other’s burdens. Counselors' life calling is to help those who need it. Never feel ashamed to seek them out.

Seeking professional help may be the very best decision you can make. And since you’re reading this devotional, I highly encourage you to find a Christian counselor, psychologist, physician; whatever you need. Ask them what their faith is, especially when it’s someone who will be helping you heal what is going on in your head. You want them to come from the same value system as you do. I’m not saying you must agree with every belief they have and go to the same denominational church. I’m talking about the over-arching belief that God is our ultimate healer, he saved us from death and wants to see us restored.

God uses these people in our lives as his hands, feet and mouthpiece to help guide our healing. They are an extension of him as our healer.

Examples of God as Healer Exodus 15:26 - And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer (rapha’).”

Rapha’ is Hebrew meaning to heal, to repair, and to make whole. It took a couple years to feel like I was through my grief and whole again, but God took me through it. With the help of some close friends, journaling, Bible study time with him, songs of worship, many tears, questions and doubting. God filled the daddy sized hole in my heart, and I was beautifully whole again in a new and better way.

Physical Healing 2 Kings 20:5 - “Return and say to Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal (rapha’) you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.”

God heals us of our physical pains. He hears us when we cry out for healing, he sees our tears and he wants to restore us. It may involve a great nurse or physician, it may involve medicine or a natural remedy, or healing may come through death, but God can use anything to heal his beloved children.

Soul Healing Jeremiah 30:17 (God speaking of healing Israel & Judah) “But I will restore you to health and heal (rapha’) your wounds,’ declares the Lord, ‘because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.’

God wants to heal us from the wounds that our sins inflict. These are often wounds of the soul that can tear you apart from the inside out. We can sometimes mask them from the world, but God sees everything. That’s why he sent Jesus to take our well-deserved place on the cross. Thank God Jesus took the task willingly because otherwise we’d all be crushed under the weight of our sins.

Even when we are broken, God desires to repair us and instead of hiding our brokenness, he embraces it and uses that history to create something beautiful. This process doesn’t negate what you’ve been through, it acknowledges the hurt and breaks, but restores it to a new kind of beauty that shows a life lived and survived. There’s a beautiful Japanese tradition of repairing broken pottery with lacquer coated in gold, silver or platinum to make it functional once again while embracing the brokenness as part of its beauty now. It is called Kintsugi. If an item is broken, the craftsman will glue the pieces back together with this gold/silver infused gold so that the places where the break happened are not hidden, but are now bold- allowing the history of brokenness to be something remembered.

God wants nothing more than to restore you to a new kind of normal. We cannot go back to our original unbroken self, but God will redeem it to a thing of beauty if we are vulnerable and trust our Creator and Healer with the depths of our hurts. Closing: We require healing in this life because we live in a broken and sinful world. Sometimes we inflict pain on ourselves and sometimes it’s unavoidable due to circumstances or other people's sin around us. Either way, it sucks.

God uses the hurts in our life to draw us closer to him and proclaim his victory over this world. The pains of this world are great, but they can be passing when we let God heal us. We can look forward to the day when we are completely and perfectly healed of everything that ails us in our lifetime.

God wants to see you fully restored but that may look different than you expect it to. God fills in the cracks of your heart and your body and it becomes a new thing of beauty. God doesn’t ignore our breaks and treat them as something to be hidden away. He embraces all of us and loves us where we’re at, bringing us into a beautiful and new kind of normal.

God is able to heal us because he is Eternal (Quedem), he is our Creator (Elohim), and he is our healer (Rapha'). “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Prayer:

Almighty Rapha', We thank you for the eternal power you have to heal us from our sins, our physical hurts and our mental struggles. You see our entire past and our entire future along with all the hurts and breaks it includes. You look at that brokenness and you love us with it all. You restore us to a new kind of beauty and put us on display so that your great works are magnified. If we let you heal us and use us, it brings you glory. Please heal me where I need it today. You know every ache on my body and in my heart. I ask you to reach out your healing hands and embrace me fully today. I trust you to do your good and powerful work in my life. I will give you all praise and glory today. Thank you in advance for healing me and loving me with all my broken pieces. I am so touched by your love that you would do this for me. Thank you. I love you. Amen,

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Hey sweet lady, we want to take a quick minute to guide your next steps with the scripture and application portion. We believe that in order to truly grow closer to God, we need to spend time dwelling on what he’s trying to teach us and not rush through it. We encourage you to spend a full week dwelling on this devotional and all it has to offer you. That means you can save some of the scripture passages for another day or re-read them in the week. We also encourage you to take your time with the application portion. You can sit in each prompt until you feel God revealing his truths to you. Don’t rush, take time to truly get to know him better by sitting in what he’s trying to teach you this week. That's where your faith will grow. Scripture for Deeper Study:

• 2 Kings 20:1-11

• John 16

• Isaiah 30:1-26

Application:

• Journal about some times where God has healed you. Was it the way you expected, or did it take you by surprise?

• Journal your gratitude that God sees fit to keep all your broken pieces together and make them a part of the beautiful new you. If you’re still struggling to see beauty in your brokenness, that’s ok. Ask God to show you the beauty that he sees.

• If you’re in a place where you need healing, spend time talking through your experience(s) with God. Really meditate on the scriptures above and share your thoughts with someone you trust. Ask them to help you see the healing God may have already begun in you.

• If you’re in need of more help than your quiet time and friend’s prayers can provide, please call your insurance today and see if and which counselor’s they cover. Don’t be afraid to take that step to healing. God works through these people who are compassionate and un-judging. It is a safe space, and you deserve the healing.