Jehovah-Rapha -The Lord That Heals

  Rapha (râpâ') means "to restore", "to heal" or "to make healthful" in Hebrew. When the two words are combined…Jehovah Rapha…it can be translated as "Jehovah Who Heals." (cf. Jer 30:17; Jer 3:22; Isa 30:26; Isa 61:1; Psa 103:3).¹

The first time I became aware of the full meaning of my Healer God was while doing a Bible Study by Kay Arthur called Lord, Heal My Hurts. It was completely life changing. I learned things I didn’t know about God as Healer.

Seeing God as Healer of sickness or other physical illnesses was never an issue. I always knew that God alone is the source of ALL healing. God can and does heal through miracles and through human (medical) methods.

But what I didn’t know, what I didn’t fully understand is that He also heals us spiritually and emotionally.

David cries out to God in Ps 41:4 “O Jehovah, be gracious to me. Heal (rapha) my soul, for I have sinned against You."  David is speaking of at SPIRITUAL healing.

And one of my favorites is Ps 147:3 where we see Jehovah Rapha who "heals the brokenhearted & binds up their wounds." referring to EMOTIONAL healing. Both Jeremiah and Hosea also speak of “rapha” in reference to spiritual healing of apostate Israel and Judah.

So what did all this mean to me? I learned that Jehovah Rapha can heal completely. He heals us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Not only does He heal, He restores. You see until this deeper understanding I had been walking around thinking that if my emotions were like an arm and had been cut off God would heal them but I would still walk around armless but at least I’d no longer be bleeding all over everyone. But God’s healing is so much more than that.

When I ask God for emotional healing He not only healed my emotions He gave me new emotions. You see, He doesn’t just heal the cut off arm He gives you a new one. He restores it! It’s like losing an arm. There may still be a scar where God joins your new arm (emotions) to your body, but you are WHOLE.
This knowledge was so freeing to me. I had asked God for healing and He began a work in my heart to deal with the pain and abuse of the past. Once He healed the anger and un-forgiveness He began to heal my emotions. I began to trust again. I could feel a real sense of hope and love. His love.

He didn’t just heal me, He restored me. Yes there are still scars, but scars no longer ooze and bleed out. They are closed and no longer have the ability to hurt or become infected. 

Scars are still visible. They do bring remembrance and they sometimes have “phantom pains”. Scars threaten, at times, to draw attention to themselves desiring to be remembered. They scream for the pain to be felt once again. The enemy will try to use scars against us. But I can choose to run to my Jehovah Rapha.

I run to the cross of Jesus and remember that my scars remind me of HIS scars. His scars have set me free. His scars have healed me physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Bottom line: Jehovah Rapha, the Great Physician heals physically, spiritually and emotionally. While we all desire physical healing we must remember that our greater need is for healing of relationships & our spiritual disease called sin. All around us we see the effects of a fallen world. We see men and women walking around in great pain due to sin.

They need healing. The healing power of our Jehovah Rapha, only He can heal in a fullness that sets us free. Only He can restore that which Has been destroyed by sin.
 
¹ BlueBible