Nails couldn’t keep Him down, the grave couldn’t keep Him in, hell couldn’t keep Him out, He reigns, He reigns
Today we continued looking at the name of Jehovah Rapha in our church… from Exodus 15 v 26 ‘For I am the Lord who heals you…’
He is the God who makes us whole, who makes us complete.
The God who heals us from the diseases of the Egyptians.
Heals us with the remedy of Jehovah Rapha.
Disease is anything that destroys your ease.
But Jehovah Rapha can deal with any disease and set you free.
He can deal with us in one of three ways: 1) He can intervene personally and do it for us when we can’t help ourselves. 2) He can give us words of advice, always through His Word. It’s up to us if we apply this. 3) He can cause someone else to draw alongside us.
And we looked at the remedy God brings to confront the first four plagues of Egypt!
The blood in the Nile, that represents our broken lifeline.
Remedy: God restores a broken lifeline through Jesus Christ, His work on the cross and His shed blood.
The Egyptians tried to dig their own trenches along the banks of the Nile, trying to provide their own lifeline, but there is only one way.
Nothing else works because the lifeline is only restored through Jesus Christ.
The frogs, that represent our pride and character flaws.
Remedy: The Potter’s wheel.
Pharaoh was full of pride.
Something deep inside says us that says, ‘I want to be just like God, so don’t tell me what to do, I’ll do just whatever I want’.
Pride stinks in the nostrils of God.
We can’t judge because we are all flawed human beings.
Our human hearts are desperately wicked.
Anger. Selfishness. Bitterness. False humility. The list goes on.
Jehovah Rapha heals us of our flaws at the Potter’s wheel.
Moulding the clay.
Shaping it.
Flaws gets remoulded.
God does it, but we say, ‘Here I am…’
We come to the Potter’s house where our flaws can be dealt with.
He’s shaping us to a preordained mould to be renewed in the image of Jesus Christ.
The gnats, that represent our broken relationships with others.
Remedy: Forgiveness.
Pharaoh’s magicians had been able to replicate the first two plagues by their own means. But they could not replicate the gnats. They couldn’t do it.
They acknowledged that it must be God.
And their relationship with Pharaoh was broken because He just went on His own way.
But Jehovah Rapha can deal broken relationships through forgiveness.
Forgiveness from the one who has been offended.
The one who has been wronged extends forgiveness.
And this is key. Love keeps no record of wrongs.
God forgives me and then chooses not to remember.
God can help you with your memory.
And you are not responsible for the other, you are responsible for your own heart. To not be bitter. To extend the forgiveness you have received.
The flies, that represent our lack of distinction from the world.
Remedy: God’s Presence.
What makes us different from the world?
In Exodus 33, Moses pleads with the Lord to go with the people.
God being with us is the mark that distinguishes us from all other people.
Carrying the Presence of God with us sets us apart.
If my life is marred by being hardheartedness rather than being on the Potter’s wheel, then I won’t carry the Presence of God.
But I want to carry His Presence with me.
Always.
Daddy, make me just like You.
beautifulsilliness 