My Healer

“Bucky the beaver.”  

That’s what they called me in first grade. The name was compelling; it was hurtful and it was loud. It pointed out my characteristics according to my classmates. Unfortunately, for me, my baby teeth were replaced with two, lonely and GINORMOUS front teeth that made their way into a name that still haunts me today. 

Names are powerful. And perhaps, that’s why God has so many.

What name of God are you in need of this season? Which powerful name do you need to cling to and claim over your life? 

For me, I’m claiming JEHOVAH ROPHE which means “The Lord Who Heals.” I need His healing. Not only from the name calling of my past (kidding, not kidding), but for the hurting of my present. This has been one of the hardest seasons of my life. I don’t know about you, but it seems like life has started and stopped about twenty times in this last year. I’ve been given a diagnosis that I never wanted, my family has been through the ringer, and my brother (one of my best friends) went to prison with an unimaginable sentence. My body, mind, and soul have been crushed. 

But His name is powerful. 

Our first glimpse at this beautiful name (Jehovah Rophe) is found when the Israelites were at the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land. Exodus 15:23-26 says “When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” 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. 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.”

Here, the Lord is not only providing physical healing and protection for the whiney people, but even, healing the bitter waters! 

Then, in Isaiah 61:1-3, we see that Jesus is described as a healer to the emotionally broken:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord ’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

We are all broken in some way. But our story doesn’t stop in our brokenness. The truth is that we have a healing God who turns mourning into joy and comforts those who are crushed in spirit. He can take bitterness from water. And if He can take it from the water, he can certainly take it from us. I believe all of this for me and I believe it for you too. 

God, you are my Jehovah Rophe!!!!!!