The Greater Healing
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He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. – Psalm 147:3 (KJV)
They came to him paralyzed, blind, and bleeding. They heard He performed miracles. They heard He could restore health. They brought their broken bodies. He healed their broken hearts.
In a fallen world where sin has ravaged what God created and deemed good, our search for healing, whether physical or mental, becomes an on-going pursuit.
Pain, and diseases of mind and body can be harsh realities of this life. God understands this and hears our desperate pleas for healing. In fact, He tells us to come boldly before His throne of grace in times of need. His compassionate care for His children never ends. But even greater than His desire for our physical well-being is His concern for the condition of our hearts. How often we see this truth played out both in scripture and in our lives.
In Mark 2, when a paralytic man is lowered through the roof seeking the rabbi’s healing, Jesus first sees a man whose heart needs a Savior and says to him, “Your sins are forgiven.” Only after this does Jesus tell the man to take up his pallet and walk.
In John 9, Jesus and His disciples encounter a beggar, blind since birth. Once again, Jesus first speaks to the hearts of those present and explains the reason for this man’s ailment is to glorify
God is in that moment. After this, He rubs mud in the man’s eyes and tells him to go wash in a nearby pool. There the blind man receives his sight.
When a woman, spirit-weary from carrying the physical challenges of bleeding for 12 years, struggles to make her way to Jesus, seeking merely to touch the hem of His garment, He looks into her heart, and before all present, first affirms her faith and restores her identity by calling her “Daughter.” Then, being healed of her affliction, He tells her to go in peace. (Mark 5:25-34)
And I have had my own moments before God’s throne of grace.
In the years of recovery following three major surgeries to reconstruct feet, ankles, and give me a new knee, I came to realize while God was mercifully attending to my physical needs, a greater healing was taking place in my heart.
I remember nights of long, arduous prayers begging God to lessen my pain and restore my mobility. I longed for strong legs and feet to take me where I wanted to go. God was teaching me what it meant to walk closer to Him. I longed to swiftly return to my old life. God was teaching me of the peace and possibilities that are ours when we surrender the timing and purpose of our suffering to Him.
Physical healing is temporal. Even Lazarus died a second time. But the healing, redemptive work that God does in our hearts is eternal. As we take our need for physical healing to Jesus, may we grow to desire and make room for the greater healing that lasts forever.
Questions for Reflection:
1. Do you have a need for physical healing right now? Surrender it to Jesus. Then, ask Him to reveal the greater healing He desires to take place in your heart.
2. What steps can you take today to make room for that greater healing?
