God promises healing in the Bible. What are those specific promises and how can you apply them to your life? God’s promises include His name and what He has said about your healing.

In my last post, I talked about how to seek God for your healing. In this post, I want to describe God’s promises of healing in the Bible.

Throughout the Bible, we can read about what God has done, His name associated with His actions and character, and the promises He has given. It is clear from a survey of the miracles of the Bible that God is willing and able to heal whatever affliction you have.

We will look at God’s promises, name, and action associated with healing in the Bible. When we understand these three aspects of God we can embrace His power and desire for our healing. We can realize God desires for us to be healthy and whole.

God’s Promises for Healing

We must start with a solid biblical truth about God we talk about His promises. God never fails in His promises. Never. We must have this conviction in our got and heart. We are used to people breaking their promises. God is not that way. When He promises something He always comes through.

We need to discuss Exodus 15:22-27 in two ways. First, the Israelites face the wilderness for the first time after God has saved them from the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Now, they must learn to trust him repeatedly in the wilderness.

We must learn to trust God for our healing, trusting that He is a good God who wants to heal us, and can heal us. He did not design this world or our bodies for sickness, but for wellness. The Israelites received their first test to trust God when they couldn’t find any water for three days.a

Unfortunately, as all of us are prone to do, they grumble and complain to Moses because they couldn’t find safe water to drink. The water they do find is “bitter.” It was bad to drink and may have caused illnesses for those who drank it.

They named the place for this bitter water “Mara,” which means “bitter.” It sounds like it was also the attitude of the Israelites when they complained to Moses. Many times, they will suffer harm because they grumble against the Lord and Moses, His leader.

Has that been your attitude with God when you are suffering and experiencing your affliction? Some people become bitter in sickness because they blame God, someone around them, or are just unhappy and want to make everyone else unhappy.

Moses knows exactly what to do. It’s what we should do every time we need help and healing. He cried to the Lord (Exodus 15:23). The Lord gave Moses wisdom to solve the bitter water situation. He showed Moses a log that when he threw it into the water made it “sweet.”

The Bible doesn’t explain how this log turned bitter water into sweet water. The point is not that the water is sweet but that the Lord gave the wisdom to Moses and is the one who changed the water so it was safe to drink.

God tells the people that as long as they obey Him and stay in covenant relationship with Him, He will be faithful to them also. Indeed, God is faithful to us even when we fail to be faithful to Him. He promises to heal them and not to put the diseases on them that He put on the Egyptians.

Jesus tells a leper He is willing to heal him (Mark 1:42-43). We know God is willing, and that is part of His healing promises. Jesus went around healing people as He proclaimed the good news of His Kingdom. Healing is a main act of God in the Old and New Testaments.

God’s Healing Name

God gives one of His names to the Israelites in the wilderness.  This happens when the Lord declares Himself to be “the Lord your Healer.” This name of God shows that He provides healing for those in right relationship with Him.

Some people use the name Jehovah Rapha, but I prefer the Hebrew name Yahweh Rapheka. This is one of the first names God gives the Israelites about Himself. His name is tied to His healing action that day. Even though God’s people grumbled against Moses and Him, He was still faithful to heal them and give them sweet water to drink.

This is the only place in the Hebrew Scriptures were God’s name appears as “the Lord your Healer.” But several places in the Old Testament show the faith of people when they say things like what Jeremiah said, “Heal me, and I will be healed” (Jeremiah 17:14). We also see God connect obedience to healing and health in the blessings and cursings of the old covenant (Deuteronomy 28).

We will see repeatedly the theme that comes along with God’s name, that the Israelites must obey Him and follow His covenant with them. When God tells us to do something pertaining to our healing, we must not ignore His instruction. We must also walk in righteousness and not allow sin or disobedience to overrule the healing He has for us

The Israelites saw firsthand in Egypt that God could do much more than the Egyptian magicians. Here, God blesses them with safe water to drink, and then the place where they can be refreshed by much water. God leads us into the Blessing of His healing and good health.

God’s Actions in Healing

We will be taking a closer look at God’s healing actions throughout the Old Testament and how Jesus heals in the New Testament through the rest of the series. His actions come directly from His character.

He is a good God who wants to heal His people because it is not the original state in which He created us. He does not wish to see us in pain or sickness. To some extent, He created the human body to be able to heal itself. He also gave medical professionals the wisdom and skill to heal many elements of the body.

With every post, we will see God’s actions in healing. Each action will be “under the microscope” as we watch Him do marvelous and impossible healing. We have only begun to scratch the surface of what God can do in His healing power. Each time we study His healing, the way He heals, and the results of His healing actions, we should be in awe of our good and marvelous God.

Praying for Your Healing

God’s name and actions for the Israelites at Mara prove His good desire and ability to heal you and me. Let us continue to ask Him for His divine healing.

Lord Jesus, as we continue to study healing in Your Word, fill my brother and sister with a renewed desire and faith in You and Your power to heal. Let each post fill them afresh with the hope of Your promises and the power of Your name. We know You will finish the work You have begun in us. In the glorious and powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Up Next

Now that we have looked at God’s promises and name related to healing, we will talk next about how to pray Bible promises for your healing.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay