Yahweh Rapha - Willing To Heal

Exodus 15:26 “He said, ‘If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the lord who heals you (Yahweh Rapha).’”

God is a Healer. Even in the Old Testament, even when His people were bound up in religious rites and ceremonies, He still healed them. Often, their rebellion limited what He could do; but whenever they would turn to Him in faith, He was always there with healing “in His wings.”

Many people in the church have been duped into believing that God doesn’t want us healed. Some ministers preach that sickness is something we just endure. The majority of ministers will simply ignore the topic altogether. I have even heard a minister say that sickness is a blessing! This man asked why God would take our sickness away when it “makes us look forward to Heaven?” It is claimed that the healing scriptures are referring to internal healing, not physical health.

But this teaching is in direct opposition to what God has already revealed about Himself! God was talking about physical diseases in Exodus 15:26. Then why wouldn’t he be talking about physical healing too? When David wrote Psalm 103 - he was also writing about physical healing: “Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases...” Healing from physical diseases is a benefit that Yahweh gives us!

God is able to heal any sickness or disease that could ever attack our bodies. We know that. We don’t have any issues with God’s ability. Our problem isn’t whether He can heal us, it’s whether He wants to heal us. How many preacher have you heard pray, “God, if it’s Your will, please heal this person.” Do we really think God wants us to be riddled with sickness?

There was a man in Matthew chapter 8 who faced the same question. He was a leper, an outcast because of his disease. The highly contagious illness that plagued his body meant that he wasn’t allowed to touch, talk to, or be near anyone. He was completely alone - and he was told that God wanted it that way. All that the religious law could do for him was keep him alone in his suffering so the disease wouldn’t spread to others.

Then he heard about Jesus, a man that was healing all kinds of sicknesses - including other lepers. When this man approached Jesus in 8:2, he said: “Lord, if You are willing, You can heal me and make me clean.” He knew that Jesus could heal his leprosy, but he didn’t know if He wanted to heal him. Jesus’ response was simply to put His hand on the man and say, “I am willing, be healed.” From that day forward, the man was healed. This man was healed because he found out that Jesus’ willingness matched His ability.

You see, this is the reason Jesus spent a lot of His time healing people. He wanted to plainly reveal to us what God’s will had been all along. Matthew 4:23-24 is one of many verses that shows Jesus’ heart to heal: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.” It didn’t matter who was sick, why they were sick, or what they were sick with - if they came to Jesus, He healed them!

This is still true today! It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter why you’re sick or whether you did it to yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you have a head that hurts or a heart that’s about to stop - Jesus wants to heal you!

Think about this; if Jesus didn’t want us healed, why did He endure the Roman whip? 1 Peter 2:24 says, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by Whose stripes you were healed.” If His goal was only our salvation, He would’ve gone straight to the cross. Jesus died to save us from our sin - but He was whipped to save us from our sickness!

It doesn’t matter that they told you God doesn’t want to heal anymore. It doesn’t matter what your experiences have taught you. It doesn’t matter if you had friends and relatives that never got their healing. I’m telling you now - the Bible declares to us that God is a Healer! He named Himself Yahweh Rapha - don’t you think He knew what He was saying? So forget everything you’ve ever learned or thought about sickness, and listen to Jesus’ own words - “I am willing, be healed!”