And [God] 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.” (Exodus 15:26)

This was an ancient promise to the people of Israel as they were being led out of the land of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. Healing is a big subject in the Bible, as anyone with even a cursory familiarity with it will know. It is something we all desire for ourselves and those we love; we pray for it and even beg God for it. Yet here, God promises it before or apart from anyone asking for it. We might be tempted to interpret this to mean that God may be more interested in healing us than we are ourselves!

God’s greater concern, though, is our obedience. Healing is secondary to Him. Our priorities should be the same. Why do we not passionately desire obedience as much as we desire health, physical comfort, financial prosperity, prideful recognition, revenge or self-sufficiency?

The people of Israel had front row seats to God’s amazing power to inflict what we have called “plagues” on Egypt, 10 in all. There were boils, infestations, various “natural” phenomena and even death. Those must have been amazing times. We wonder how the Israelites could hesitate to obey the God who caused all that to happen and protected Israel from it all. But God knew that His people would continually turn away. So they were not free from the diseases that Egypt experienced.

Still, we must not forget that God defines Himself as Yahweh the Healer. Think about that for a moment. Sin is the greatest sickness, for it leads to spiritual death. Humankind contracted it when Adam and Eve ate from the tree against God’s explicit command (Gen 2:17). This genetic illness of sinful rebellion against God has been passed down to all people, for we all have descended from that first couple. We are all guilty of the same problem. Yet God did not abandon us. He has offered healing to all who “obey” Him—healing from our greatest illness.

So we pray to God for healing today, and rightly so. We find great hope in “The LORD who heals.” Why He doesn’t always heal is a great mystery. Maybe it is our disobedience, or maybe it’s a timing issue, a “not yet” sort of thing. Or possibly we must patiently wait for the ultimate healing when we graduate to glory. However, our greater concern should be why we don’t always obey now.

Lord, I set as my priority to obey You, more so than seeking healing.