Healing

April 4, 2019

by Jennifer Moodie 

Definition of heal

transitive verb

1a: to make free from injury or disease : to make sound or whole heal a wound

b: to make well again : to restore to healthheal the sick

2a: to cause (an undesirable condition) to be overcome : MENDthe troubles … had not been forgotten, but they had been healed— William Power

b: to patch up or correct (a breach or division) heal a breach between friends

3: to restore to original purity or integrity healed of sin

Heal. Healing. Healed.

These words have been on my mind and heart a lot lately. I've spent many years begging God for healing...

Healing for my marriage.

Healing for my body and mind.

Healing from the damage of false beliefs.

Healing from the effects of sin.

One thing that strikes me when I think about healing, is that sometimes, scars are a result of healing. Or, are we not completely healed if we have scars? I have a scar on my finger from a sharp knife, and if I press it just right or if it bumps on something, it hurts. A nerve must have been severed, and although there is no longer an open wound, there is still pain at times where the wound was.... but it's been healed, right?

This is just something I've been pondering. What do we define as 'healing'? Do we decide when we've been healed? Or does someone else decide? Is healing complete when the wound is closed? Or when the scar fades? Is a scar a sign of continued healing, or a sign that healing is complete?

I have struggled with this idea for some time. See, God has been healing my marriage, and my theology, and giving me knowledge for healing my body. But just like the physical scar on my finger, I have emotional scars. Some scars fade over time, and some are there for life. Is the presence of a scar a sign that complete healing still needs to happen? Or a gracious reminder of the healing that has already taken place?

As I contemplate the idea of healing, I am reminded that one cannot heal one's self. Meaning, we aren't superheroes with the power of spontaneous regeneration/healing. We cannot make our bodies or minds heal. God designed our bodies to know how to heal itself, but ultimately it's only God, who made and controls all things, who can make healing happen. We do not have the power to look at our wounds or disabilities and say, "Be healed!"

I am thankful that I know The Healer.

Psalm 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." 

These verses from Job struck me:
Job 5:17-18
"Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal."

I believe God is sovereign. I used to question why He would put me through so much pain in my marriage, or perhaps He was somehow....absent during those times and just didn't care about my pain and suffering. I now understand that He didn't cause it- my sin did that, I needed no help to act on my depraved desires- but He used it to wound me in a way that only HE could heal.

I may have scars from my past, but I know that they are there as a constant reminder of God. They remind me of what my sin is capable of and the pain it causes when I allow my sinful heart to be my focus over desiring God and His glory. They remind me of the mercy God has granted to me, and the healing and comfort that only He can bring.

I used to beg for healing. Sometimes, I still do. God used a lesson that was taught to our Jr. High youth group to remind me of something... physical healing (even mental healing... healing in the way I want) isn't God's ultimate goal. Yes, He will often provide that in this life, but it isn't our bodies or our comfort that is His end goal. It's the healing of our spiritual state. We can easily think that we don't need God for our physical or mental pain-after all, we have doctors and medications, and our bodies often heal themselves. We don't have the ability to know and see what really needs healing. But this account in Luke 5 was a great reminder to me that only God can heal what's most important: my heart.

17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

"Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you', or to say, 'Rise and walk'?"

That really has been something I've been contemplating.

It's so easy to focus on selfish things such as lasting hurt that my sin caused that I rightly deserve to feel, without remembering that what I really deserve isn't what I'm getting. My sins deserved God's wrath; they deserved damnation. God would have been just to leave me in my sins and damn me to Hell. But instead, "he was pierced for [my] transgressions; he was crushed for [my] iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought [me] peace, and with his wounds [I am] healed". (Isaiah 53:5 emphasis mine)

So the pain of healing that I so desired to be taken away.... well, I instead choose to rejoice in that. For these scars that remind me of the pain of my past, also remind me of the amazing healing that God has done.

I am thankful for healing-and for scars.

Soli Deo Gloria