Heaven’s Healing Hand

Heaven’s Healing Hand

** Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0DaDQxJEog

I don’t know if you’re like me, hopefully not, because then I’d have to seriously pray for you. But whenever I go places, like the supermarket or around town, I always look at those around me, and while people are adept at putting on faces and putting up fronts, the truth is that people are hurting. We see people who are troubled and in need of peace, lonely people in need of relationship, people without hope in desperate need of hope, and sick people in need of healing.

And why is that? Well, it’s because no one goes through life without pain, hurt, and sorrow. Everyone has problems, hurts, and hidden wounds that they allow no one else to see.

People are also hurting in other ways. They may be financially in debt, or emotionally scarred because of some past trauma. They may have a physical ailment due to disease or illness, or they have suffered the loss of someone dear to them. Their family relationship may be strained to the breaking point, or they may be discouraged and exhausted due to living in this crazy mixed up pandemic filled world.

One of these hurts, wounds, and scars is called rejection. At one time or another we’ve all been rejected. We’ve experienced rejection from our parents, peers, co-workers, and friends. In fact, we remember words spoken to us 10, 20, 30, 40, even 50 years ago, words that hurt just as much today as when they were first spoken.

And so, in our time today, I’d like to talk God’s healing touch, or what I’ve entitled, “Heaven’s Healing Hand,” I’d like to look at how God heals these hurts and wounds.

And can I say, God gives us His promise of healing.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3 NKJV)

Now, we’re all in need of healing, but if I could put this qualifier up front, sometimes God’s healing touch isn’t always the healing we had in mind. Just this week I put out one of my God Tweets entitled, “God’s Ultimate Healing.” And then I quoted Revelation 21:4 that says, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

But for us today, let me give you some hope, and that is the promise that Jesus made.

He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV)

Now, before we go further, let me say that Jesus may not heal every problem, hurt, or need. In fact, Jesus promised that in this world we will have these sorts of trials and tribulations, but also that He has overcome this world, which should bring us hope (John 16:33).

God can heal us immediately and miraculously, but He may also give us the power to endure the difficultly and problem, and triumph over it even while we’re still in it.

You see, divine healing is not just about becoming well, nor is it becoming what we were, rather it is becoming what God intends for us to be. This is probably the most important thing for us to understand, because maybe that illness or problem is God working within us His divine purpose, and thus, His divine healing.

Today, I’d like to look at Jesus’s healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda and how it applies to our healing. And there are four things found in this story that I’d like to share.

1. Identify the Need

In John 5:6 it says, “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’” (John 5:6 NKJV)

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I read this my first thought is how ridiculous this sounds. Of course, this man wants to get well! You wouldn’t ask a starving man, “Do you want food?”

But actually, it was a very valid question, for there are people who, if given an opportunity for a healing, might actually choose to remain sick.

People have become comfortable in their sickness, and any healing will change their environment if not their whole way of life. They’ve developed relationships through their illness, and when healed they will have to learn how to deal with life and others in a completely different way. And this scares people.