The realm of divine healing is an extensive one. When we examine the true Holy Scriptures we see a variety of ways that healings come about. There are times Christ would touch a person, or they would touch a portion of His garments, or there was no touching at all and He just spoke the Word. The Holy Bible records people being healed by God when they obeyed a command, had clay made of spittle of placed on their eyes, or a cake of figs placed on a boil along with a variety of other occurrences. However, all have some common denominators. Verse 2 of Psalm 30 lists five of those factors.
“O YHVH my God, I cried unto You and You have healed me.”
I. The Power – “O YHVH . . .”
As noted above, some earthly cures work, others do not. With that, human knowledge is limited and sometimes research is hampered because of warped priorities, as in the fact more money has been poured into finding a cure for AIDS than discovering cures for varieties of cancer that exist. But God is not warped nor does He need money for research. He is YHVH, The Existing One. He lacks nothing and needs nothing. We need Him.
While it is true, to a degree, that God has endowed some scientists and those in the medical profession to be used to facilitate healing in mankind {1}, the ultimate truth is that God desires we reverentially recognize Him as the source of these for our own good. Humans err and fail. God does not. And His ultimate goal for us is not to be cured of our ailments but be released from our sin and sin nature.
Christ, Who is God in our flesh (compare John 8:58 with Genesis 18), came, in part, to crush our sin and sin nature. A key thought to keep in mind, though, is that as the Son all His earthly ministry was not done on the basis that He is God, but as the Son He followed the Holy Spirit and was empowered by the Father. This fact is borne out in Philippians 2, where, because of His obedience as the Son, His Name, supercedes all others, even the Name YHVH. Compare where, by the Holy Spirit, Paul speaks about Christ in Philippians 2:10-11 with what YHVH says about Himself in Isaiah 45:23 — Philippians 2:10 – 11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Isa. 45:23 (YHVH speaking) – I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
These two passages, plus the previous two (Genesis 18 cp John 8:58) should be sufficient proof that Christ is YHVH.
II. The Personal Relationship – “… my God, …”
The human author of this psalm was King David, who we know had a personal relationship with God by faith. He refers to God as, “my God.” Though he did err into sin, for the most part of his life he made the one true God the focus of his life.
Before he became King and during the earlier portion of his rule the Holy Scriptures note that he would often inquire of God. No object nor any human came before God.
As you see, he says “O YHVH my God,” and we now know, as shown by the above comparative Holy Scriptures, that Christ is YHVH in our flesh, and also that the point was made that Christ came primarily to free us from our sin and sin nature. That is why we can have a most personal relationship with God. Physical healing by God is more readily available to those who have put their full trust in Him.
It is great to have a personal relationship with God through Christ. There is ongoing communication. Years back I had a nasty cold. The old remedy of heated dandelion wine had not been working so I asked God what to do. He said, “eat eggs.” I cooked and ate two or three eggs and I was better the next day.
One more example from this end. I have had myopia since childhood. I wear glasses, but that does not mean I do not trust God. In fact, by law I have to wear corrective lenses while driving. I go to an eye doctor, but I do not place his word, or any doctor’s word, on the same level as the Word of God. God has provided an inversion table for us. I try to listen to the Holy Spirit and modify my diet. In the past couple of years the sight of my right eye has improved. And although, on one of the last visits, the eye doctor said there was a cataract developing in that eye, in the past few weeks I had an urge to add cumin to my diet. After running a search on that spice the other day I saw that cumin is supposed to be helpful in clearing up cataracts. So, let us see what happens!
III. The Plea – “… I cried …”
There are twenty possible Hebrew words {2} for the usage of the Holy Spirit to express the sense here, and the Holy Spirit chose one that means, “to cry for help in distress.”
In asking God for healing, one must be in earnest. While pastoring in the early 2000s a man kept coming up to the prayer line in many of our services for healing. He was disabled (on Social Security Disability – U.S.A.) due to his ailment, and “wanted” to be healed. However, he told me and others he did not want to work again. That caused me to question his earnestness. He never was healed, in this world at least.
There has to be some level of earnestness. I say “some level” because I have seen, and the Holy Scriptures will back this up, people who have received the miraculous when simply expressing the need to those who “stormed heaven.” Here is an example of fervor: http://relijournal.com/christianity/investigating-the-miraculous-when-things-get-worse/.
Except for preventative care, I do not want health insurance. I have it now through my wife’s employer, but I remember a time we did not have it. It was in the 1980s. I started bleeding. At that time I was a volunteer medical person with a local volunteer fire company. I went over to the station. It was just God and I. I cried out to God and I was healed. I felt it. The bleeding stopped.
Over a decade later I had soreness in my lower right quadrant, the bleeding was back, and I had insurance. I cried out to God, but finally went to a doctor, and wound up going to three other doctors after it was discovered I had a femoral hernia. The bleeding was again from hemorrhoids. I had an operation for the hernia. To this day I wonder if I had to go to doctors because I was less earnest having insurance in back of my mind.
IV. The Priority – “… unto You, …”
Christ referred to Himself as “the first and the last” (another connection with YHVH – see Isaiah 44:6 and similar passages) in Revelation 1:17. While He primarily meant that He is all that we will ever need in regard to salvation, we can apply it to the following thought: “When it comes my healing, I go to Him first, and despite what medical professionals say, God has the last word!”
Some time back I was harangued on a forum for stating that one should pray first in an emergency. This is one reason why we do not see many miracles in North America because too many people depend on 9-1-1 instead of God.
I am not saying do not call for help. What I am saying is pray first. You should do that as you head to the phone and start dialing (or punching in numbers)! What is wrong with that? Pray while you are making the call. Surely you can do two things at once. Pray after the call. What makes anyone think that for absolute sure the police, fire department, or ambulance is going to get where you need them to be on time?
If God permits you to visit a doctor or / and get therapy, keep putting Him first. Do what God says.
Also, it is true that, barring the rapture of the Church, there is a time to die, but let God tell you that. And do not succumb to the thought that as you age you are destined for a nursing home. I have seen many senior citizens remain active and never wind up in a nursing home. God willing, and if the rapture is not scheduled during my lifetime, that is the way I prefer to exit. I want to be busy serving Him when my heart stops or the trumpet summons me.
V. The Performance – “… and You have healed me.”
Strong {3} indicates “healed me” is in the imperfect tense so that would indicate to me healing can be an ongoing process. Of eight possible words {4} the Holy Spirit could have used, Wilson states this one means, “to heal diseases of all kinds (Ps 103:3), particularly of wounds by outward application, and binding or sowing: Eze. 30:21, to heal a distressed nation or person by restoring them to prosperous circumstances; to heal in a moral sense, to cure the mind, to pardon the soul.”
Note how broad this term is! Not only does it stand for physical healing, it also speaks of national healing, spiritual healing, mental healing, emotional healing and more!
For balance, let me state that God is sovereign and, as mentioned, there is a time to die or it might be one is to bear “a thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) for some godly purpose, or there might be some other reason why an injury or illness lingers. But make sure you hear from God.
One more point of balance. There are satanic {5}, psychosomatic, and other healings. Not everything is divine.
Seek the divine Answer and, above all, see to it that you have a personal relationship with God through Jesus the Messiah!
Please read / listen to the following regarding divine healing:
Investigating The Miraculous: Child with Leukemia Healed
Investigating The Miraculous: God Miraculously Heals Son Accidently Ran Over by His Dad
Investigating The Miraculous: Man Brought Back From Death When Doctor Prayed
Links to the MP3 or the message notes for Our Health.
Links to the MP3 or the message notes for Risen With Healing.
Links to the MP3 or the message notes for Sin Can Affect Your Body.
Notes:
{1} Used in the proper traditional sensible sense, denoting all people, male and female. I could not care less about being politically correct.
{2} Wilson, William: Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies (MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, VA) p104
{3} From an electronic version of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong incorporated in the Online Bible program, and so throughout the article whenever the ancient language is referred to and no other authority is cited.
{4} Wilson, William: Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies (MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, VA) p210
{5} Not capitalized on purpose. Triond gives me the freedom to express myself in that way.
This article was in the form of a sermon (message) outline with comments. God willing by June 25, 2014 (hopefully much sooner), you should be able to hear the actual message (sermon) by selecting a link at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M317 .
Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the 1769 Authorized Version with spelling of some words updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHVH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates. An * next to the abbreviation for another translation or version indicates the same for the text presented.
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