August 30
‘• Heal me, 0 Lord, and I shall be healed.’’ — Jer. xvii. 14. ‘* / have seen his ways, and will heal him.” — Isa. Iv’i. 18.
“jSClflvrT is the sole nrcrojrative of God to remove spiritual li-?i if**- Natural disease may be instrumentally lielcd by men, but even then the honor is to be given to God, who givcth virtue unto medicine, and bestoweth power unto the human frame to cast off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the great Physician alone; He claims it as His prerogative, “I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal;” and one of the Lord’s choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee. “I will heal thee of thy wounds,” is a promise which could not come from the lip of man, but only from the mouth of the eternal God. On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, “0 Lord, heal me, for my bones are sore vexed;” and again, “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.” For this also the godly praise the name of the Lord, saying, “He healeth all our diseases.” He who made man can restore man; He who was at first the creator of our nature can new create it. What a transcendent comfort it is that in the person of Jesus “dwclleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily!” My soul, whatever thy disease may be, this great Phy. sician can heal thee. If He be God, there can be no limit to His power. Come, then, with the blind eye of darkened understanding, come with the limping foot of wasted energy, come with the maimed hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry temper, or the ague of shivering despondency, come just as thou art, for He who is God can certainly restore thee of thy plague. None shall restrain the healing virtue which proceeds from Jesus our Lord. Legions of devils have been made to own the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has he been baffled. All His patients have been cured in the past, and shall be in the future, and thou shalt be one among them, my friend if thou wilt but rest thyself in Hinc this night. 21