Names of God

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name… who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases – Psalm 103:1,3

It is hard to find a more passionate doxology anywhere in Scripture than David’s heart cry here.

All that is within me, David says, is drawn to exalt and proclaim the One who heals every disease. He is Jehovah Rapha, the healer.

Have you come to know your need of healing? It is only when you are brought, like David, to pray, “Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul” (Psalm 41:4), that you will be blessed, like David, to see God as your soul-restoring shepherd (Psalm 23).

The only thing worse than finding out you're sick, is being sick and not realizing it. This is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick” (Mark 2:17). Only when we see our sickness will we come to the physician for healing.

Because God is the great healer, he is therefore also the great wounder. He faithfully chastens each of his children into a realization of their guiltiness and emptiness before a holy God and a bankrupt world.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19). He wounds so that he then can heal. No one has ever come to God for soul repair and been turned away. David confesses, “I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me” (Psalm 30:2).

Have you cried to the Lord, bringing him your wounded pride and ambition? If so, then you can rest assured that the great Physician will heal you. It is for the sick that he is come.