The Great Physician

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3 esv

Many people in the Bible who had an encounter with Jesus received physical healing: the man with leprosy; Peter’s mother-in-law; the paralyzed man; the man with the withered hand; the woman with an issue of blood; the blind, deaf, mute and those overtaken by evil spirits and demons. In an instant, Jesus proclaimed healing and it was so. But what about the wounds of today?

Hebrews 13:8 tells us Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Lord who healed all those people in the Bible thousands of years ago is the same one who can heal us today. We all have witnessed or heard of physical healings that can occur—healings from cancer, the flu, broken bones. Healing might come from natural remedies or medicine, or a combination of both. But as Christians, we know that, ultimately, healing is in God’s hands.

Emotional healing might be more difficult to “see.” Emotional wounds can be more painful than physical injuries. No medicine can touch the pain of an absent parent, rejection, betrayal, or losing a loved one. But Jesus can heal those types of wounds also. He is the only one who can heal and restore our emotional well-being. Medical professionals can relieve suffering and save lives. But our faith should not rest solely in physicians. Our faith needs to be in God.

Christ is the most cheap physician, he takes no fee. He desires us to bring nothing to him but broken hearts; and when he has cured us he desires us to bestow nothing on him but our love.

Thomas Watson

There is not a formula for the way that God heals. There’s not a timetable.

Amy Grant

For Further Reflection

Mark 2:17; Jeremiah 17:14; Jeremiah 30:17; Hosea 6:1

Today’s Prayer

God, forgive me for coming to you only when I have exhausted all my resources. Please give me peace in the situation I am facing. And please give me the spiritual healing you see fit. Amen.