GOD OUR HEALER
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty together again.”
We smile at this little nursery rhyme; it’s among our earliest childhood memories. Some of us might even recall a picture book in which the artist’s rendering depicted Humpty Dumpty as a real character rather than make-believe.
Whether or not the author and the artist intended for the nursery rhyme to convey a lesson about life Is not known by me, but nonetheless it does speak to a few situations in which folks sometimes find themselves: broken . . . shattered . . . in pieces - as expressed by that familiar phrase we all have either heard or spoken - “. . . just trying to put the pieces back together.”
In the real world in which most of us live – not in some utopia that exists in one’s imagination – people are often broken by circumstances, situations, sins, or errors of judgment. Did you ever feel like your life was “coming apart at the seams”?
Certainly health issues common to us all, particularly as the aging process takes its toll, concern us and cause us to wonder if all the good doctors and all the great medical technology could ever put us together again.
It really doesn’t matter how good doctors are, or how advanced technology is, the bottom line regarding “what ails me” and whether this or that procedure benefits me, is this: All of their best efforts and ours, combined, fall short of giving us that sense of peace and contentment needed to see us through our remaining days.
Yes, we should (and do) accept medical help available to us, but we realize that our greater need is spiritual - so we turn to the Lord in humility and ask Him to intervene in our situation . . . to heal our brokenness . . . to restore our hope!
The necessity of turning to God and trusting Him to heal our brokenness is a lesson learned by the Israelites the hard way, and is as applicable to us as to them. To initiate the process of restoration, however, we must first do what they did – See the great power of the Lord, be awed by it, believe in Him – Exodus 14:29-31 . . .
The Israelites had known nothing but slavery for centuries. Then the Lord intervened by sending Moses to tell the Egyptian Pharaoh: “Let my people go”.
Ten plagues later (the final “nail in Pharaoh’s coffin” being the death of firstborn males except for the sons of Israelites whose houses the death angel passed over at the sight of the blood of a lamb sprinkled on doorposts), Pharaoh, at long last, ordered Moses and the Israelites to leave. However, as Moses and the people made their way toward the Red Sea, enroute to freedom, Pharaoh ordered his army to go after them and bring them back. Evil doers find it hard to let go of that which has enriched them!
We can only imagine the panic that overtook these people upon learning what Pharaoh was up to . . . the challenge this dire situation presented to Moses who had persuaded them to pack their bags and follow him . . . the uncertainty that gripped all of them.
Yet, their fearless leader had promised them that the Lord would fight for them, and that they would see His salvation! What happened next?
That very day the Lord saved them from the power of the Egyptians . . . Israel saw God’s miraculous salvation . . . they were awed by God’s power . . . they believed in Him.
We too are called upon to see the great power of the Lord . . . be awed by the displays of His power . . . believe in Him!
Problem is: We tend to be fickle in our profession of faith.
The degree of our faith in God is so often determined by the ebb and flow of circumstances. As long as there’s smooth sailing, we’re up . . . but let there be the slightest hint of troubled waters, we’re down.
God’s miraculous act of saving the Israelites from further bondage buoyed the spirits of freed people bound for the promised land. God’s salvation affected them in two significant ways spiritually: Fear of the Lord plus Faith in the Lord.
God’s miraculous act of saving the world from its sins ought to affect us all by instilling in us an awesome reverence of God (healthy fear) that translates into a firm belief in the power of God to give us victory over whoever our enemies might be and whatever they throw at us!
Problems will arise as we make our way through life toward the place Jesus has prepared for us (“Into every life some rain must fall”) but, since God is on our side, only trust Him - and never forget: “Back of the clouds the sun is always shining.”
God’s people - saved by His mercy, called by His Name, promised His presence - trust the Lord God to make the “bitter” better – Exodus 15:22-27 . . .
Had not these privileged people seen the power of God at work thus far . . . believed not only in God but in their God-ordained leader Moses . . . benefitted from Moses’ diligence, determination, dedication to the difficult task assigned to him by the Lord?
Yes, they had, BUT, as is so often the case when problems arise enroute to a better life, an unexpected hardship went from bad to worse and quickly soured, whereupon embittered folks looked for a scapegoat to blame. Moses became the target of their frustration, indignation, and assassination of character.
Well, Moses could have walked away from the folks who turned on him in outrage, but he knew what the real problem was - a lack of trust. So it is that the issue of grumbling toward God is clearly spiritual. Either our profession of faith in God was not real to begin with, or, was so shallow that we allowed circumstances to determine the depth of our trust.
Rather than walk away from the murmurers and go back to his sheep farm where he had it made in the shade, Moses decided that God had led him this far, so God would lead him on to the promised land. Thus, he sought a divine solution.
Moses cried to the Lord because he knew the power of God to make things beautiful, in God’s timing, for bringing about the “ending” God intended from the very beginning. (In a tax accountant’s office, I read this optimistic saying printed on a placard: “I hate to spoil your ending, but everything’s going to be okay.”)
Folks, God knew the problem Moses was facing (God knows the problem you are facing), and God knew (knows) how to solve the problem. May God open your eyes, and mine, as He did Moses’, to see the solution - often obvious . . .
The tree (representing the Tree on which our Savior died) was cast into troubled waters to remedy the problem by turning a bitter situation into a better situation . . . bad into good . . . sourness into sweetness . . . the greatest negative the world has every known into the greatest positive the world has ever known.
But wait! That’s not all! God is not done with His redeeming power yet! In just a short while, God turned Marah (bitter place) into Rapha (better place)!
Jehovah-Rapha (the Lord God who heals, forgives, cures, restores) prescribed the regimen that would grant His people spiritual healing for dealing with whatever came their way (including physical challenges) as they made their way (as we make our way) all the way to the place God promised to prepare for them (us):
“If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His sight”, the end result of your trust and obedience will be:
Immunity from adverse effects of diseases inflicted by the enemies of God (thirst, hunger, anxiety, agitation, deprivation, annihilation, separation) plus Community with fellow believers blessed abundantly (twelve springs) with peace, comfort, joy, hope!
Whatever your situation, circumstance, problem, disease . . . God is able to turn your Marah into Rapha . . . bitter into better . . . anxiety into contentment . . . fear into courage . . . sorrow into joy . . . despair into hope . . . dying into living!
Praise God for the day the Lord saved you from the power of Satan and set you free to go on a spiritual journey that will lead you all the way Home! Amen.
