God the Healer

"Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand."

Deuteronomy 32:39

Unlike a doctor who uses medicine and other means to harness the natural healing processes of the body, God IS the healer.  He designed all the systems that protect, identify and eliminate harmful infections, and promote the health of the body.   I have found my typical response when I am not feeling my best is to downplay my symptoms.  I must be undeniably sick to admit I am sick, and I assume the healing process should act more quickly than it does.  After a couple of weeks of a cold or cough it feels like restoration to full health drags on forever!  Being ignorant of the extent or severity of my illness, I assume healing should occur quickly and easily.  As oncologists go to great lengths to destroy all cancer cells, so God is willing to take great pains to restore sinning souls to Himself.

The prophet Isaiah was chosen and sent by God to bring a message in Isaiah 6:9-10:  "And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' ¹⁰ "Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed."  This passage always confused me because it seemed contradictory God spoke yet did not want them to hear.  It seemed God worked to undermine the whole purpose for sending Isaiah at all!  The reality was quite different, for God's people had departed from Him, were entrenched in idolatry, loved the lies of false prophets and oppressed one another.  Like I tend to downplay my own illness, we can downplay the severity of the sin of others and ourselves.  When we are sick we take a tablet, but the children of Israel needed spiritual revival, a new heart and new mind obtained only by faith in God, repentance for sin and humble obedience.  They were unwilling to take their medicine.

Modern surgery likely would seem very extreme to people who relied upon poultices and bloodletting which could never clear clogged arteries or put cancer in remission.  Having a better understanding of the complex processes of the human body with scans and testing allows medical professionals to better diagnose and treat illnesses.  God's diagnosis for the children of Israel in Isaiah's day was grim, for they refused to listen to Him.  They were heading to destruction due to their sin, and God would surely judge them for their sins with the aim to ultimately restore them to Himself.  Half-doses would not be adequate for their healing.  God's prescription was for Israel to be cut down like a tree with a stump left in the ground by their enemies, be carried away captive, and after 70 years for a remnant return to Him.  In His wisdom God determined their spiritual blindness would lead to sight, their deafness result in hearing His voice, and being taken from their land lead to them choosing to return to Him.  This may seem counterintuitive, but this was the means God would employ to sanctify and heal His people.

The teaching of Jesus in parables also fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, and Jesus affirmed this in Matthew 13:13-15.  At the same time, those who exercised faith in Christ were blessed with understanding as Jesus said in Matthew 13:16-17:  "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷ for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."  Jesus came as the Light of the World and did not keep anyone in the dark, but those who loved darkness and refused to come into the Light would remain blind.  Amazingly, in part the blindness of the Jews served another divine purpose:  the unbelief of the Jews graciously opened a door to the Gentiles into the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus.  The refusal of the Jews to hear Jesus led Him to be proclaimed and heard by Jews and Gentiles to this day.  Paul wrote in Romans 11:30-32, "For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, ³¹ even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. ³² For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all."

See the wisdom, grace and goodness of God upon all!  Through God's sovereign designs there is hope, healing and restoration for all people by faith in Jesus Christ.  Our own deafness, blindness and hardness of heart can be used by God to make us hearers and doers of His word, to bless us with spiritual insight, and to have our hearts of stone replaced with soft and responsive hearts.  As we may seek medical care only to alleviate our symptoms (as long as it is convenient and not too costly!), we can be content with minor reforms or partial healing God spoke of in Jeremiah 6:14:  "They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace."  Slight healing that enables us to stay as we are falls far short of God's intent to heal, revive and restore us to Himself which requires a more involved process of repentance, faith in God, submission and obedience to Him.  Because God loves us, He is willing to oversee and orchestrate events in our lives and nations so His will for healing and salvation will be fully accomplished for us and for generations to come.