S6 Episode #6- Jehovah Rapha, The Lord Our Healer
THE ONE WITH Jes & Jehovah Rapha
We’re back! This week Jes is sharing Part 8 of our Names of God series! We are highlighting different names and character attributes of The Lord. Understanding who God is and who we are in Him are vital parts of walking in freedom and remaining rooting in who we are created to be. This week we are learning about Jehovah Rapha (Ropheka)– He restores our souls, he is healer and solace. The healing power of The Lord has the ability to bring sweetness to the things in your life that were once bitter. The ultimate act of Jehovah Rapha, our Healer, is sending Jesus to die on the cross to bring healing and freedom from sin.
The first time that we see this name of God in the Bible is in Exodus 15:26. The Israelites had just been freed from slavery in Egypt, they had just witnessed the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, and they had seen God wipe out the Egyptian army that was pursuing them.
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Jehovah Rapha (Ropheka or Rophi)– He restores our souls, he is healer and solace
It’s part 8 of our Names of God series! We are highlighting different names and character attributes of The Lord. Understanding who God is and who we are in Him are vital parts of walking in freedom and remaining rooting in who we are created to be. This week we are learning about Jehovah Rapha (Ropheka)– He restores our souls, he is healer and solace.
The first time that we see this name of God in the Bible is in Exodus 15:26. The Israelites had just been freed from slavery in Egypt, they had just witnessed the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, and they had seen God wipe out the Egyptian army that was pursuing them. After seeing all of the incredible ways that God provided for them, the Israelites sang a 21 verse song of praise. They proclaimed things like…
1 “I will sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense[a];
He has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.3 The Lord is a warrior;
The Lord is his name.6 Your right hand, Lord,
was majestic in power.
Your right hand, Lord,
shattered the enemy.7 “In the greatness of your majesty
you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
it consumed them like stubble.8 By the blast of your nostrils
the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood up like a wall;
the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
10 But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.11 Who among the gods
is like you, Lord?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?12 “You stretch out your right hand,
and the earth swallows your enemies.13 In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
to your holy dwelling.
18 “The Lord reigns
for ever and ever.”
The people sang, “forever and ever”… or at least for 3 days until they got really really thirsty. Their song of praise uses powerful, vivid imagery to describe the might and sovereignty of The Lord. And yet, three days later, when the Isrealites were facing their next challenge, they quickly forgot all that The Lord had done for them and they reverted back to a slave mentality of scarcity and fear. They went from walking in bold confidence across the dry ground of the Red Sea, to living in fear that they would die in the desert.
I want to pause here because this attitude of the Israelites is sadly relatable. There have been so many times in my life where I have seen God come through for me in a miraculous way by providing exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. And yet, the next time I am faced with another challenge, I so easily forget all that God has done in the past. Right now Jon and I are looking for a place to live once we are married, and the housing market is bleak. It’s so easy to stress and feel anxious about the lack of options, the skyrocketing prices, and the uncertain timing. BUT GOD. BUT GOD is more capable. BUT GOD is faithful to provide. BUT GOD sees the full picture of how the timing will work out. I need to remind myself over and over again that twice already in Charlotte I have seen God provide housing for me in a miraculous way. And now we feel like our backs are up against the wall again, but we must not forget the ways that God has shown up in the past and we must not stop believing that He can do it again.
His provision may look different in every season, but He is the same God. The God who provided a substitute sacrifice for Isaac, the God who provided a way from the prison to the palace for Joseph, the God who provided freedom from slavery to the Isrealites and brought them to a land of plenty.
This is starting to feel a lot like a message about Jehovah Jireh– The Lord who Provides, but that was my message back in November, I promised we’re headed into a new Name today. But I love the progression of the way God reveals his names in the Bible. Herbert Lockyer describes, “There is a wonderful and significant order in the compound names of Jehovah as they appear in Scripture, indicating as they do a progressive revelation of [God] to meet every need of His redeemed people.” I find the order and intentionality of the Bible to be very beautiful and comforting.
Now back to the story, let’s pick up in Exodus 15: 22–
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.[f]) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
The first thing that stands out here is the path that the Isrealites took. Verse 22 says that Moses led them from the Red Sea to the Desert of Shur. This was not a very easy or direct path. In fact, it would have been more logical to follow the major trade route along the sea, rather than heading into the wilderness. Keep this in mind, as it will come up again in a few minutes.
In verse 26, we finally see the miracle! The Lord “heals” the water here by making sweet that which was once bitter. The water that was undrinkable, leading to certain death, now brought life.
The healing power of The Lord has the ability to bring sweetness to the things in your life that were once bitter. The ultimate act of Jehovah Rapha, our Healer, is sending Jesus to die on the cross to bring healing and freedom from sin. I wonder if the piece of wood that God directed Moses to use to heal the waters of Marah was a foreshadow of the wood that our Savior would die on in order to heal our souls. We’ve seen over and over in the OT that God is continually pointing to the coming of Jesus! It’s truly incredible!
Another fascinating thing I stumbled across in my research is that this wood method to “heal” the water may have had more immediate significance to the Israelites as well. The Enduring Word Commentary explains a theory that highlights the idea that God takes every little details into consideration and He is always looking out for our good… even when we can’t seem to see it in the moment, The commentary states,
“The chemicals in the sap of the broken limb drew the mineral content down to the bottom of the pools and left only good water on top. Even though the waters were now drinkable, there was still a significant magnesium and calcium content in the water. The laxative effect of this would clean out the digestive systems of the children of Israel, cleansing them of common Egyptian ailments such as amoebic dysentery and bilharzia, a weakening disease common among Egyptian peasants. In addition, calcium and magnesium together form the basis of a drug called dolomite – used by some athletes as a performance enhancer in hot weather conditions. At Marah, God provided the right medicine to both clean out their systems, and prepare them for a long, hot march to Sinai.”
Ok, wow!! The Israelites felt like God had led them into the bitter wilderness to die, yet it was this very wilderness that brought them new life and would prepare them for the challenges that they were about to face!
I pray you are encouraged by this today! The wilderness you are in right now, may be the very thing that God is using to purify your insides and prepare you for what is yet to come.
The final verse in this passage is such a sweet ending. The people drank the cleansing waters at Marah and then they continued on and made it to Elim, where they experienced an abundance of fresh water and food. I feel like God is reminding us here to not lose heart when we are in a season of Marah, of bitterness, because He will provide a way through, and the rest and abundance of Elim might be right around the corner. But the tough reality is that your “elim” could be one day away, one decade away, or something you don’t get to experience until Heaven. But that tough reality is also the GOOD NEWS. This life is but a blink compared to eternity with Jesus in a place of complete rest, peace, abundance and ultimate healing.
So we’ve reached the end of our passage for today, but I want to highlight a few other places in the Bible where we see Jehovah Rapha in order to get a broader picture of what He is healing. These are the passages that Kay Arthur outlined in her book Lord, I Want to Know You:
In 2 Kings 20, King Hezekiah is sick. Verses 4-5 say, “Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord.” This passage shows us that God can heal our physical bodies. We see many examples of Jesus healing peoples’ physical bodies in the NT as well
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we see God healing the land– “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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Isaiah 19:22 and 53:5 give a powerful prophecy that we will be healed from the disease of our sins. “The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them…. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Jeremiah 30:15-17 shows us the way that God heals pain that seems incurable. His healing restores our souls. It states, “Why do you cry out over your wound, your pain that has no cure? Because of your great guilt and many sins I have done these things to you. “‘But all who devour you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered; all who make spoil of you I will despoil. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord, ‘because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.’
Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.”
Psalm 103:1-3 says, “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits– who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases”
Matthew 8:16-17 “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.”Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of The Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of The Lord.”
1 Peter 2:24-25 “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”
So in short, Jehovah-Rapha heals everything– bodies, souls, creation. He heals the sick, the brokenhearted and the sinful. We can be healed because Jesus took our sin, pain, disease and brokenness upon himself. Praise the name of Jehovah-Rapha today and walk in the confidence of being a healed, whole, and free child of The King!
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