And [Moses] said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer [Rapha].” (Exodus 15:26)

Oh that we believers in Christ would be preserved from ever getting sick. The reality is that we live in a fallen world (see Rom 8:22) that will be renewed only at the coming of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21:1). So what do we make of our passage in Exodus 15:26? Can we believers today claim healing whenever we want it? Many today would say yes, and use verses like Isaiah 53:5 as support: “And by His scourging we are healed.” Indeed, Jesus Himself said that His followers would do greater works than He did (John 14:12). And Peter’s quote from Joel in his Pentecost sermon gives evidence of the miraculous effects of following Christ (Acts 2:17).

Oh that the miracle purveyors were right about their interpretation of these things! Hospitals would be much emptier with Christians cured of illness. We would never have cancer, diabetes, permanent injuries, congenital deformities or other debilitating maladies. Following that reasoning, we would never die, for we Christians would be freed from the ultimate disease, namely death and its sting (1 Cor 15:55-56). But in the end, something gets all of us! Even many so-called “faith-healers” wear glasses and suffer from the common cold.

So what then does it mean that the LORD is our Healer? In context, Moses declared this specifically for the Jewish people during the Exodus period of Israel. They were on their way to the promised land that would be everything Egypt was not. Etched permanently in the collective memory of the Jews were the ten plagues that had devastated the Egyptians leading up to the Exodus. The promised land of Canaan would be a land flowing with “milk and honey.” Yes, God promised they would experience the ultimate earthly environment, maybe even similar to the Garden of Eden. But His healing would require their hearing and obedience. Complete obedience. Of course, obedience was in short supply, and the Jewish people fell far short, so they lost their reward of God’s healing.

God’s character as Yahweh Rapha, however, still stands. For example, in context, He had just healed the bitter water at Marah to provide for their thirst (Ex 15:21-25), despite their complaining. God can and at times does heal all our diseases (Ps 103:3), but never because we deserve it. He heals because of His grace and mercy. And He has healed us of the greatest disease of all: Sin.

LORD Rapha, I thank You eternally for healing me from the spiritual-life-killing disease of sin, through Your forgiveness and the new life You give.