Jehovah rapha

Exodus 15:22-27

Ex 15:22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
Ex 15:23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
Ex 15:24 So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
Ex 15:25 Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.
There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.
Ex 15:26 And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.”
Ex 15:27 Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

Jehovah rapha. Is there a more appealing name for God in all of Scripture? Our healer.

It's interesting to read this verse in context. IF you listen to the LORD, IF you do what is right in HIS sight (the only relevant standard), pay attention to His commandments (the Word) and keep His laws...THEN...God will put none of the diseases on you. The bitter waters of the world can be sweet to us when we follow God's leading and do things His way. Or perhaps He'll move us to a safer Elim - and cause us to leave the world's waters. It's His call.

We just like the healer part, don't we? We want to shirk the responsibility for the rest. We want to be able to live however we want, do whatever we please and then run to God to fix the mess.

Let me be clear: physical illness is NOT all due to sin. In John 9:1-3 Jesus explains that a man's blindness is not due to sin. Jesus tells His listeners in John 11:4 that Lazarus' illness "is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” We live in a fallen world, and with each generation our flesh is farther from Eden, and more cursed with sin... illness happens. That's not my point...

The teaching in Exodus 15 shows a direct correlation between our actions and God's.

Some sexually transmitted diseases are quite obvious results of rampant sin. And yet it's easier to run to the doctor for the Rx than to fall before Jehovah rapha and change our behaviors.

Jehovah rapha's blessing is very real to me, a deterrent to sin in my life in a healthy way. My mother struggled with mental illness and God has used that as a safeguard in my life. When I start to feel oppressed, I do run to my Jehovah rapha, and ask Him to cleanse me again., to heal me. I lean in. My mother's struggle - I can learn from it - a blessing in disguise. Diabetes is a blessing in disguise in a similar way: I eat differently than I would otherwise because I fear the illness and its complications.

Am I guaranteed that if I follow Christ I will not have physical diseases like diabetes, or mental diseases - physiological malfunctions in the brain? No. But I can do everything in my power to eat properly, exercise and rest to avoid diabetic complications. And I can do the same, and more, to safeguard against compromising my mental wholeness.

Action and consequence. Simple, really. And yet we want to take a pill, have a surgery, figure out a way to not have to exercise self discipline and yet be healthy. We want the easy way out, and we want to be in control.

I don't think it works that way.