Faith- A step to Receive Divine Healing

The Bible says “For I am the Lord who heals You” (Exodus 15:26)

These words were spoken by God to his people Israel relating their experience in their deliverance from Egypt. They had just crossed the Red sea and had set out their journey through the wilderness where they were downcast and discouraged by the disappointment they suffered at the waters of Marah as it turned out to be bitter.

The incident recorded in the Bible in Exodus Chapter-15 throws four important lessons to ponder:

The first point being 3 million people grumbled while one man prayed. It was Moses their leader who upon praying got the solution. So the lesson is “If we need a solution, it is wiser to pray than to grumble.

The second point is, that god brought in a situation in their lives and it was not peoples initiative, but God decided to be their healer out of his own decision.

The Third point is it took an act of faith to release Gods miracle working power. God showed Moses a certain tree. All that Moses had to do was to pick up the tree and cast it into the water. That act of faith casting the tree into the water released Gods miracle working power in the water. If Moses would have just stood at the water without doing anything believing in a miracle nothing would have happened. So this brings us to the lesson of knowing the principle “That faith without works is dead”. So if we believe we need to demonstrate our faith through words, actions or both.

The fourth point being the tree was the means of healing those bitter waters. This prophetically points to the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ where the above words said by God “For I am the Lord who heals You” as the place where the healing covenant God made with His people Israel found its ultimate fulfillment not only for Jews but also for the entire humanity.

If you read the incident very carefully you will find the Bible does not say Why the waters were bitter, but Moses was shown the way to make it sweet. Many a times most of us waste our energy asking God a lot of unfruitful questions as to why this or that happened? We must get out of it and go to God with humility and ask “Lord show me what to do? Understanding why things happened will only burden our minds. But when we want to know what to do God will always give us a practical answer.

The basic requirement for healing is to diligently listen to what God says with both ears turned to him. If we listen to God with one ear and listen with the other ear to others as to what they say, all you get is only confusion and it will not produce faith.

Let me show a portion from the Bible where this act of faith is answered.

“And behold a woman of Canan came from the region and cried out to Jesus, saying,” have mercy on me O Lord,……..My daughter is severely demon possessed.”(Mathew 15:22)

“But He answered her not a word----------------send her away for she cries out after us. (Mathew 15:23)

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”(Mathew 15:24)

In this incident we read about a cananite woman who is a Gentile (all people other than Jews), who is not Jewish, who began to cry out to Jesus to have mercy on her daughter. To this what Jesus says in verse 24 is My covenant obligation is not to those who are not of the house of Israel.

But He answered and said “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs”(Mathew 15:26)

It is hard to understand the reply given by Jesus unless we know nature of the covenant commitment. (Recall the incident at Marah narrated above).

So Jesus when He came to this world in flesh had a covenant with Israel by which He was committed to be their healer. Therefore he says healing was the children’s bread and it cannot be parted. For this reason we do not read in the New Testament that any Israelite who ever came to Jesus was refused healing.

So in the above case the woman was a gentile. She had no covenant, no claim. But all she had was faith. Now you read another verse.

“And she said, “True Lord, even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters table”(Mathew 15:27).

What the woman said was Lord, I know you are the Master and only you can provide, I don’t need a slice. All I need is a crumb. One little crumb will do that is needed for my daughter. Let us see Jesus Response.

Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.(Mathew 15:28)

This tells us that the woman’s faith called forth Jesus compassion even though He had no covenantal obligation and the Girl was healed.

To conclude the Blessings of the covenant are now available to both the Jews and the Gentiles – To all those who come in faith through Jesus to God the Father on the basis of the covenantal Name God revealed at the Waters of Marah (Jehovah Ropeh) - meaning The Lord Who Heals.

So Why Wait? Come to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ and get healed.