Where God Came Down to Heal

A devotional journey through the Saudi desert

This week my husband and I have been privileged to walk in the footsteps of Moses in northwest Saudi Arabia where many explorers now believe is the correct region of the Exodus route around Mount Sinai.

After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and went three days without water, the LORD healed bitter waters at an oasis called Marah, and there the LORD made an important covenant of healing with the people. 

“If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” (Exodus 15: 26) 

Yehovah Rapha, the LORD your Healer, is one of God’s great compound names.

"Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters." (Exodus 15: 27)  

On our journey in NW Saudi Arabia we only had time to "camp"at Elim [photo below] for about an hour, but we took time to refresh ourselves and to remember the LORD's covenant of healing. 

I have walked in divine health for decades, and whenever I’ve been ambushed with sickness or emergencies, the LORD my Healer has saved, healed and delivered me.

Recently I was disappointed to hear a man of God whom I admire for his eschatology nevertheless state emphatically that he is a “cessationist.” [Cessationism is an erroneous doctrine that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing ceased with the Apostolic Age.] 

God’s promises in his immutable Word only cease through doubt and unbelief! 

Jesus our Great Physician healed with messianic miracles, and Hebrews 13: 8 states He is “the same yesterday, and today and forever.”

He is unchangeable!

We are not at liberty to change or to limit the promises of God.

We must receive his promises without the resistance of unbelief! 

When we purpose to receive God’s promises, then we are able to be taught and enlightened by the Spirit of God.

I posted the above Scripture photo of Exodus 15: 26 on Facebook and a friend commented with Jeremiah 17: 14 in the NLT (New Living Translation), 

“O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!” (NLT)

That NLT translation is highly irritating and proves why we all need access to the original texts of the Bible.

My favorite go-to site is Bible hub.com

I answered my friend, “This NTL translation of Jeremiah 17: 14 is not good and can create doubt. There is no IF in the meaning. The Literal Translation says,

‘Heal me, O Yehovah, and I am healed, Save me, and I am saved, for my praise art Thou.’ Please examine the Hebrew at this link. There is no IF:”

 https://biblehub.com/text/jeremiah/17-14.htm

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