"Bless the Lord, O my soul . . . . . who healeth all thy diseases." Psalm 103:2
The promise of God to heal all our diseases has been grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted. It can be viewed as applying to the disease of sin as well as to actual physical illness. There are those who use this verse to prove that anyone can be cured of bodily illness by faith, or being anointed with oil, laying hands on a radio, or sending for a handkerchief. If this were true then everyone who did this would be healed, for the Scripture says, " . . . who healeth all thy diseases." There is no room for failures in this sense. The word all excludes any exception. It is of course true that in every case of recovery it is because God has so willed it. But there comes a time in everyone's life (everyone) when their physical sickness is not healed - and they die. Only when Jesus comes will this verse be fulfilled - He healeth all thy diseases. Until then all will continue to die, in spite of the foolish claims of men.
But the reference here is to the disease of sin, as the context will show. Sin is compared to sickness. Isaiah says of Israel, " . . . the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores" (Isaiah 1:5,6). Before seeking physical healing we should seek spiritual health. All physical cures are temporary - ending in death - but spiritual healing results in eternal life!
I am often asked by doctors, "Aren't you sometimes sorry you left the practice of medicine and the healing of men's bodies - left a noble profession to become a despised preacher?" My answer is always no! All the patients I used to treat died sooner or later, but the people who take the medicine I now offer them (the Gospel) never die. The cure is permanent, and gives eternal life. The Gospel is God's panacea!
"Bread For Each Day"
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