Andrew Wilson's book Incomparable is a brilliant book. For anyone who doesn't have a copy... go buy it now... essentially it's lots of different chapters that explore God, his character, his nature and his attributes.
As I'm investigating what it means to call God - Healer, I reread the chapter he's written on it. I'm quoting a fair chunk of the chapter (selected bits) so all copyrights are Andrew Wilson!
The anchoring verse he uses at the start is in Exodus
Exodus 15:26
He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of 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."
"In the verse above, we read that one of God's names is 'Yahweh-your-healer- (Yahweh-rophe). When God reveals His name, as we have seen, we need to take notice, because it is a revelation of His character. Healing is not something God did once and may or may not do now. It is part of who He is."
Wilson later goes on to look at the story of the Israelites and how despite all the miracles they've seen they are once again grumbling and doubting Him. God uses the event to reveal a new name to them, as they did not see God as a healer.
He ends with this bit
"Of course, we know that God doesn't always heal like this (previous shared a testimony of someone being healed by God), for various reasons. Just one of those reasons, as the opening quotation makes clear, is a lack of obedience in faith. But this is not always the case, and whether or not He chooses to heal at a given moment, He is always Yahweh-your-healer, because it's His name, it's who He is . It was His name when the Israelites came out of Egypt, it still is today, and it always will be."
It's always challenging to read about healing. I've heard of various people being told they aren't being healed by God because they lack faith. Now as Wilson says one reason may be that people lack faith and therefore they aren't healed (Mark 6:1-6) but it is not the only reason and therefore telling people that they aren't being healed because of a lack of faith is the wrong thing to say I feel. I guess in all things if He heals, or if He doesn't, it is His will as Almighty God, we just should never doubt that He is Yahweh-your-healer and this will not change as He never changes.
Relating song: Healer (Hillsong) - a great song, shame about the whole controversy of its writer. The biblical truths of the song remain and it's brilliant to be reminded that "nothing is impossible for You... You hold my world in Your hands"
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