Are you desperate for a miracle?
I sat there weeping. Completely blown away by what I had just learned. How could it have come to this? I didn’t see the signs and I couldn’t imagine what would come of the future. My only hope, God had known this day would come and He knew the perfect plan. He knew the way to true healing. He also loved her so much more than I did, and He would work things out for our good and His glory. So, I did all I knew to do, I prayed as I had never prayed before.
Desperation. It comes to us usually shockingly and unexpectedly. We wouldn’t have pictured this would happen and now that it has, we are blindsided and left wondering what happened and how do we fix it. Can you relate?
Recently, I have been taken by the stories of lepers in the Bible. I have no idea what leprosy would be like to have, but I try to imagine the hurt, loneliness, and desperation. Being forced away from those you love. Cast off from society and forgotten by most. Forced to wear clothes that make you identifiable from a distance, so no one gets too close. Calling out to everyone around you that you are unclean, saying it over and over to keep people away. And with each breath, losing hope, that healing will come.
My heart breaks for the leper. I think mostly because I can’t imagine feeling forgotten and without value because of something I can’t control. So, when I come upon these portions of scripture, I am stopped by Jesus and His reaction.
First, Jesus is willing to go where the broken, lost, unclean people are. He wasn’t afraid or disgusted. He loved them. When these unclean people approached Him, He didn’t shy away. Instead, He had compassion for them. He placed His perfect and holy hands on their decaying and diseased bodies. He had compassion on them. Jesus met them where they were and ministered to their needs.
As much as they wanted to be healed and Jesus desired their bodies healed, the greater point was not physical healing but rather spiritual healing. Jesus met the people where they were in their state of dysfunction, desiring to show them that He could heal the physical, but the healing of the soul was far more important.
Jesus healed many people. These are people who sought Him out, knowing that He was able to heal. They came asking, standing near, hoping for a touch from the Savior. Luke 17:11-19 tells of ten lepers in need of healing. All were healed, only one returned to say thank you and give glory to God. All ten were physically transformed. All ten had a new life ahead of them. All ten of them would live life and at the appointed time, pass away. Did any of them receive spiritual healing? Healing that leads to eternal life? One returned to Jesus and Jesus tells him that the faith of the leper healed and saved him. All had a healing touch but the one who recognized Jesus as the Savior received the better healing, eternal life.
Today, if you are praying for a miracle, whether for yourself or someone else, pray for the healing that leads to eternal life. We are all dead in our sins without Christ. We all need the sinless blood of Christ to make a way for us. Then as we pray for physical healing, we place our trust in future permanent healing. And we pray those we are praying for to receive that as well. Psalm 103 reminds us of so many of the character traits of God. Forgiver of our sins, Healer of our diseases, Redeemer of our life, one who blesses us with love and compassion, Giver of good things, strength giver, justice bringer, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love… The chapter goes on and on. Don’t focus so much on the desperation for immediate physical healing and miss the great blessing that is ours in Christ, right now. Spiritual healing can be yours today, don’t miss it. After all, our life here is but a breath, spiritual healing impacts eternity.
