Healing's Ebb and Flow

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. – Jeremiah 17:14 (NIV)

There have been seasons where I’ve been physically sick and have needed time to restore my body. These were times when I couldn’t do much but rest, eat the right food, and take small steps to exercise again. For my body to heal, it needed help from doctors, friends, and family.

There have also been seasons of long suffering where I wished for that season to end and it instead continued on. I wrestled with what healing looked like when it wasn’t coming the way I wanted it to, and where my faith would land if I allowed it to be honest about how the healing was or wasn’t happening.

Would I still look to the Lord when answers to prayers were delayed, or even came differently than what I expected?

When we want things to turn out right, we want to rush the timeline. But God works differently. He does what He wants when He wants. And sometimes, that means allowing us to linger in the pain and unanswered prayers just enough to take us past our comfort.

Here is where our trust is evaluated and we see where and who we put our trust in.

Healing can come swiftly. Healing can come slowly. But that base of healing is the same: God is the one who gives the time it takes for the deep and lasting work of uncovering our hurts and discovering the truth in His love that sets us free and starts the restoration within.

When our life looks like a mess and our hearts are too heavy for us to bear, we look to the Lord.

Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (Jeremiah 17:14, NIV)

The thing about healing is that it isn’t often linear. It can ebb and flow, rise and dip, take three steps forward and one step back. God’s wisdom exceeds ours, and as we are all uniquely made and situations are different, He knows how best to bring healing.

We wait for the time when we will experience full healing, in heaven, when we have all of eternity to love and worship the Lord, when He will wipe away every tear and stitch up our bleeding heart. But until then, we look for what the Lord wants to do here and now, what He wants us to see, how He wants our attention trained on His presence. For us to take our hurt, our past, and our fear to Him, hold out open hands and trust Him to take the pieces of our brokenness and put them together.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Where do you want healing in your life?

2. How can you trust Him with your healing today?

3. Get honest with God and tell Him how you want to trust Him and if there is anything that hinders it.