We can rebuild

Psalm 30.2

When I was a boy a favorite TV show of mine began somewhere in the opening credits with this phrase, “We can rebuild him. We will make better than he was before.” Then for the next few seconds we would be reminded how they made the 6 million dollar man. What a show!

In so many ways that really does describe the carnage of life. We get shattered, bruised, broken. Sometimes we cannot recognize the life we have. But before you despair let me mention the work of our Lord. He is the healer, the great physicians, the rebuilder of all things.

Psalm 30:2 gives us a marvelous promise in testimony. “O Lord my God, I cried out to you and you healed me.” For just a minute consider the weight of that word healed. It is the Hebrew word “rophe”. This word is given to us in one of the compound names of our God – Jehovah Rophe (Exodus 15).

This one little word tells us volumes about the heart of our God. He not only wants to heal you, he can heal you. Rophe has three basic meanings for us. It means to restore – now I love this image biblically because it is the picture of having what was broken, stolen, or lost returned in better shape than before. When you became a Christ-follower he supernaturally restored to you that which was broken, stolen, and lost – your ability to be at one with the Father.

Rophe also means to heal. Exactly, it means to heal one of the infirmities, illness, and even bitterness of life. This is not only physical healing. This is also emotional healing. The Lord cares about our emotional health as much as he does our spiritual. There are scars and wounds in us that people cannot see, but our Lord has the power to heal us even there.

The last of the three meanings is powerful to me. Rophe means to cure. For a long time I could not see the difference between heal and cure. Then one day it hit me. Healing is what we need in the now and cure is what we need for eternity. Cure is when some ailment does not return – ever! The Father is not content to only restore to you what was lost. He also has healing for you. But this is not enough for him to be satisfied. His complete and perfect work is to cure you.

Are you rebuilt yet? Me neither – but as a work in progress I can confess that in my day of trouble I cried out to Jehovah Rophe and he healed me.

Always Enthusiastic,
Dr. Rusty Newman