August 30
Spiritual Doctor
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. - Jeremiah 17:14
I have seen his ways, but I will heal him. - Isaiah 57:18
It is the sole prerogative of God to remove spiritual disease. Natural disease may be instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honor is to be given to God who grants wisdom to doctors and bestows power to enable the human frame to cast off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the Great Physician alone; He claims it as His prerogative: "I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal";1 and one of the Lord's choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, "the Lord who heals you." "I will heal your wounds" is a promise that could not come from the lips of man but only from the mouth of the eternal God.
On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, "Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled,"2 and again, "Heal me, for I have sinned against you!"3 For this also the godly praise the name of the Lord, saying, "[He] heals all your diseases."4 He who made man can restore man; He who was at first the creator of our nature can re-create it. What a transcendent comfort it is that in the person of Jesus "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."5
My soul, whatever your disease may be, this Great Physician can heal you. If He is God, there can be no limit to His power. Come then with the blind eye of darkened understanding; come with the limping foot of wasted energy; come with the disabled hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry temper, or the fit of shivering despondency; come just as you are, for He who is God can certainly restore you. No one can restrain the healing power that proceeds from Jesus our Lord. Legions of devils have attempted to overcome the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has He been hindered. All His patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the future, and you may be counted among them, my friend, if you will but rest yourself in Him tonight.
1 Deuteronomy 32:39 2 Psalm 6:2 3 Psalm 41:4 4 Psalm 103:3 5 Colossians 2:9
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Ezekiel 2
verse 2 Psalms 38
Mindscape
Anxiety and worry. They’re commonplace in everyday life. We worry about the safety and wellbeing of our children. We worry about our health. We become anxious over our jobs and our finances . . . and uneasy over the seemingly endless challenges of everyday life. Unfortunately, when difficulty happens, worry can lock us it its grip. So, how do we change our thinking? How do we alter our mindscape? Author Timothy Witmer, Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, looks to the Apostle Paul to help us reset our thinking. Mindscape helps readers replace fear and worry with peace that surpasses all understanding. By exploring the root of anxiety, worry, and escapism, learn to rest in what is true, right, noble, pure, lovely, and admirable to find freedom from stress and worry.
Click here to learn more about Truth For Life
From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
