March 3, 2012 … Merciful Healing

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Numbers, Chapters 21-22 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Numbers 21: 4-9: … [Snake on the Pole] … 4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

My Journal for Today: Today in my chronological read through the Bible, I was taken to Chapters 21-22 of Numbers; and the passage which was emboldened for me to write about today was the one copied above from Numbers 21: 4-9, the story of God, the snakes, and the pole statue. And on the surface it just seems to be another in a long line of God teaching the grumbling and continually recalcitrant Israelites a lesson in obedience and mercy. And most certainly it is documentation of that; but this story has way more prophetic and Messianic implications for a Bible traveler like me.

Please take the time, fellow traveler through God’s word, to meditate on this story. And do you recognize the pole symbol which God had constructed to be a traveling remembrance of how He mercifully provided a way for His rebellious children to be saved from the plague of snakes which He had visited upon those disobedient fools in the desert? Yes, … for those who’ve been in hospitals or doctor’s offices, you may remember the international healing symbol, the CADUCEUS, … two snakes entwining a pole beneath wings of victory (or healing, in this instance). Well, the origin of that symbol can be found in this passage.

And if you ever go to the pinnacle of Mount Nebo in Jordan, which is the very place where Moses took God’s people during their trek to the promised-land; and the place being referred to in Numbers 21, there is an enormous statue erected there of bronze on the place where Moses looked out over the promised land, … the land he would never enter but the promised land which would one day be the place where God’s people were returned to God’s healing and covering care. I’ll attach a picture of that statue below for your viewing; and you’ll note how the statue on Mount Nebo resembles the healing symbol, the Caduceus.

But also note how the symbol depicts Christ on the cross; and that’s the prophetic picture which God was crafting for His people; and it is the image which Jesus, Who was the fulfillment of this prophesy, spoke of to Nicodemus in the garden, which we read of in John 3: 13-15 to which I’ll link you here to read.

And what is our take-away application here? Well, I hope you’ve seen it. God was giving His people a picture, by creating a statue, which they could look upon and, in their faith, would be delivered from the poison of their own sinfulness. That, my friends, is exactly the picture of salvation and healing which any of us can have (and hopefully already have had) when we look to what Christ did on that pole of death and life in Calvary, … the Lord shedding His blood on that tree, so that anyone in faith can be cleansed, healed, and saved from the poison of their own sin.

It is a glorious and wonderful picture of salvation; and isn’t it wonderful that we can see how God used this picture in several places in the Bible to remind us of God’s healing. We read about it here in Numbers; and as I’ve mentioned in the New Testament as Jesus made reference to the same image. But you can also read about it in a Psalm written by King David’s worship leader, Asaph, who remembered this image in Psalm 78, which I hope you’ll go back and read with this link …

God’s healing and saving grace is always there for anyone who looks to the cross and sees, through the eyes of faith, a Savior Who died there to rid us of the poisonous effect of the snakes of sinfulness. I pray we all have seen Christ, through the eyes of faith, giving His all on that pole at Golgotha so that we can be healed of death and live forever with Christ as our Jehovah Rapha, the Healer of all healers. He is our caduceus; and we live under the healing of His blood on the cross.

My Prayer Today: … Heavenly Father, thank you for providing an image I can look upon and be reminded of what You did on that pole of death to provide me with life eternal. Amen

2010 – August 4 – The Matchless Balm of Gilead

Study from God’s Word… Jeremiah, Chapters 46 - 47 … Passage for Reflection: Jeremiah 46: 11 … NIV "Go up to Gilead and get balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt. But you multiply remedies in vain; there is no healing for you.

My Journal for Today: Question: … What do I do in my life to let God’s “Balm of Gilead” heal my sin-sick soul? That essentially was Dr. Smith’s self exam question to close his devotional for today.

In Jeremiah’s day, Gilead was a place known for healing. Many herbs, ointments, and remedies came from there as well as people going to Gilead to be treated by many physicians who lived there. It was sort of the Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic of the Middle Eastern world in those times. Jeremiah makes reference to Gilead today with regard to Egypt not being able to be healed, even by a balm from Gilead. In Jer. 8: 20-22, he makes a similar reference; but this time it’s to Judah. In other words, God, through the Prophet,” is saying, “Even the best of human remedies won’t help you.” And God is trying to get Judah or Egypt to look to HIM, and Him alone for the healing that comes from applying the true Balm of Gilead,” i.e., the healing God has for those who surrender to Him as Jehovah Rapha. As the old hymn states …

There is a balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul;
There is a balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole.

The question still remains: “Are we willing to submit to the only remedy provided for the ultimate disease, which is death?” And that, of course, is the blood of the Lamb of God.

No more need be said to point us to the only source of healing we have for our soul … the only REAL “Balm of Gilead.”

My Prayer for Today: Jehovah Rapha, my Healer, … Your blood has been applied to my soul; and I am healed unto eternity. Praise Your Holy Name!!! Amen

2010 – May 6 – Confession – Good for the Soul

Study from God’s Word… Psalms reflecting many emotions and the complexity of human emotions – Today Psalms 4, 12, 20, 25, 32, and 38 … Passage for Reflection: Psalm 32: 5 … NIV 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You [my Lord] and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD " — and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

My Journal for Today: Today, Dr. Smith, my devotional “shepherd” launches into a study of 16 Psalms in the next few days which express a variety of human emotions; and today the highlight verse is from Psalm 32 where David is reflecting on what it was like ridding himself from the guilt of his confession after the cover up of his sins involving Bathsheba and his involvement in the death of her husband, Uriah. And yes, this song was actually written after Psalm 51 which, of course, is the song of confession where David unburdened himself of those sins before God and all of God’s people with that great Psalm of confession.

Dr. Smith is right on target again today as he discusses how the U.S. criminal justice system actually works to impede individuals from unloading their sinfulness and confessing their wrongdoings. And Dr. Smith is most certainly right that we humans have a deep-seeded need, a hole in our souls, to confess when we know, from the prevenient grace of God, that we have sinned against Him and done anything which breeches His Law. Our criminal lawyers often will do all they can to keep us from confessing until they can ploy their craft and try to get their clients off – no matter how guilty they are.

The truth is that unless we, as guilty sinners, can confess our sinfulness before God (see 1st John 1: 9 - linked) and before man (see James 5: 16 - also linked), we will never be able to express the emotions David is expressing in Psalm 32, … the joy of God’s cleansing grace and the remission of sin from the Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Dr. Smith, at the end of his devotional for today, asks a heavy question for any of his readers. He asks, ”What debilitating guilt is silently eating away at me because I have yet to TRULY confess my sin?” You have to answer that one for yourself; but I can recall, as David is recalling in Psalm 32, a time when, after 22 years of living a double life of hidden sexual sin, I confessed all to my wife, from whom I had hidden my sinfulness. Oh, it took a lot of time – actually years – before we got to the place of healing expressed by David in Psalm 32; but that healing did take place; and now I know – and practice – the truth of 1st John 1: 9, confessing my sin – as much as my consciousness allows – and keeping short accounts before God for my sinfulness.

One can only live an emotionally unburdened life to the extent that God, the Grace-Giver, can pour out His healing and cleansing love. And that cannot happen when pride keeps one from confessing sin to God. Go back and meditate on Psalm 51, first, and then on Psalm 32. Then take some time to ruminate upon the truths expressed in 1st John 1: 9 and James 5: 16; and when you do that, I’m convinced you’ll see the need, drawn by God’s grace, to free yourself from the burdens of guilt, confessing any sin you have to God first and then to at least one brother/sister in Christ. If and when you do that, led by God, you’ll feel – deeply feel – the cleansing power of God’s forgiveness to separate your sin as far as the east if from the west. And if you’re feeling any guilt now from covering up your sin, you know you need to do that.

My Prayer for Today: Oh, my Lord, God, how often have You cleansed me from my sin nature over the years; and for that truth I walk with You in the light of Your forgiveness rather than in the darkness of my sin. Amen