“I will heal their land”
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
God’s answer to Solomon was that if only his people would humble themselves, pray, seek his face, and repent, he would hear and would heal their land. Rain would fall to water the barren earth. Locusts would be banished, and the plague would be gone.
When I think of healing, when we hear the word “healing,” we are hearing about wholeness, being brought to restoration. You know, wholeness and restoration are being in the place that God has called us to be, in His glory and in His presence, away from the darkness, now turning to His light.
Romans 8:20-22 (NKJV) “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.”
Hosea 10:12 (NIV) “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
Exodus 15:26 (ESV) “saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
In Exodus 15, God gives himself a new name: Jehovah Rapha. Jehovah wasn’t a new name. Jehovah means “the Existing One” or “Lord” and suggests “to become known.” Rapha was the new part. Rapha means “to heal.” God let the Israelites know that he is the God who heals. GOD IS JEHOVAH-RAPHA – FIXING WHAT IS BROKEN. Rapha in Hebrew means not only “healer,” but also “to mend, cure, repair thoroughly, make whole.” Most importantly, God, as Jehovah-Rapha, mends our broken relationship with Him. In Hosea, He promises that when His people return to Him, “I will heal their apostasy”
Hosea 14:4 (ESV) I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.
Healing is what God is. And we need him. Only God can heal.
Psalm 103:2-3 (ESV) “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,”