Day 5: The Wounded Healer Is Making All Things New
Day 5: The Wounded Healer Is Making All Things New
SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 21:4
“By his wounds you have been healed… He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.”
DEVOTIONAL REFLECTION
Jesus does not only reveal the healer by touching the sick. He reveals the healer by becoming wounded.
The hands that touched lepers were pierced. The feet that walked toward the hurting were nailed. The back that carried compassion was torn open. The voice that called the dead to life cried out from the cross.
This was not the interruption of His healing ministry. This was the center of His healing ministry.
At Marah, God used wood to enter the bitter water and make it sweet. At the cross, Jesus hung on the wood and entered the bitterness of sin, shame, suffering, judgment, and death.
The cross is where God entered the bitterness Himself. The resurrection is where God proved that bitterness does not get the final word.
This matters for anyone who has prayed for healing and did not receive the answer they wanted. If that is part of your story, Jesus does not shame you. He does not accuse you. He is not offended by your honest pain.
Maybe a prayer for healing brings up hope for you. Maybe it brings up disappointment. Maybe someone once prayed for you and nothing happened. Maybe someone made you feel like your suffering was your fault. That is not the heart of Jesus.
Jesus does not shame wounded people. Jesus moves toward wounded people.
Our hope is not that life will never hurt. Our hope is Jesus crucified and risen. The wounded healer is alive. Death did not hold Him. The grave did not keep Him.
If Jesus is risen, then every wound for the person who belongs to Him has an expiration date. Some wounds last a moment. Some last a season. Some last a lifetime. But none last forever.
Cancer is not final. Depression is not final. Anxiety is not final. Trauma is not final. Shame is not final. Addiction is not final. The grave is not final. Jesus is.
Yahweh Rapha is here. His name is Jesus. And He is making all things new.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
• What wound do I need to bring honestly to Jesus today?
• Where have I mistaken waiting for absence or pain for abandonment?
• How does the cross show me that God is not distant from suffering?
• How does the resurrection give hope for wounds that are not healed yet?
• What would it look like to keep seeking Jesus even with unanswered questions?
PRAYER
Jesus, wounded healer, I bring You my pain, my disappointment, and my hope. Heal what You choose to heal now. Sustain what I still have to carry. Keep my faith alive until the day You heal everything completely. Amen.
TODAY’S PRACTICE
Hold one hand open as a sign of surrender. Name one wound before Jesus. Then pray, “Yahweh Rapha, meet me here.”
SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 21:4
“By his wounds you have been healed… He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.”
DEVOTIONAL REFLECTION
Jesus does not only reveal the healer by touching the sick. He reveals the healer by becoming wounded.
The hands that touched lepers were pierced. The feet that walked toward the hurting were nailed. The back that carried compassion was torn open. The voice that called the dead to life cried out from the cross.
This was not the interruption of His healing ministry. This was the center of His healing ministry.
At Marah, God used wood to enter the bitter water and make it sweet. At the cross, Jesus hung on the wood and entered the bitterness of sin, shame, suffering, judgment, and death.
The cross is where God entered the bitterness Himself. The resurrection is where God proved that bitterness does not get the final word.
This matters for anyone who has prayed for healing and did not receive the answer they wanted. If that is part of your story, Jesus does not shame you. He does not accuse you. He is not offended by your honest pain.
Maybe a prayer for healing brings up hope for you. Maybe it brings up disappointment. Maybe someone once prayed for you and nothing happened. Maybe someone made you feel like your suffering was your fault. That is not the heart of Jesus.
Jesus does not shame wounded people. Jesus moves toward wounded people.
Our hope is not that life will never hurt. Our hope is Jesus crucified and risen. The wounded healer is alive. Death did not hold Him. The grave did not keep Him.
If Jesus is risen, then every wound for the person who belongs to Him has an expiration date. Some wounds last a moment. Some last a season. Some last a lifetime. But none last forever.
Cancer is not final. Depression is not final. Anxiety is not final. Trauma is not final. Shame is not final. Addiction is not final. The grave is not final. Jesus is.
Yahweh Rapha is here. His name is Jesus. And He is making all things new.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
• What wound do I need to bring honestly to Jesus today?
• Where have I mistaken waiting for absence or pain for abandonment?
• How does the cross show me that God is not distant from suffering?
• How does the resurrection give hope for wounds that are not healed yet?
• What would it look like to keep seeking Jesus even with unanswered questions?
PRAYER
Jesus, wounded healer, I bring You my pain, my disappointment, and my hope. Heal what You choose to heal now. Sustain what I still have to carry. Keep my faith alive until the day You heal everything completely. Amen.
TODAY’S PRACTICE
Hold one hand open as a sign of surrender. Name one wound before Jesus. Then pray, “Yahweh Rapha, meet me here.”
Posted in Daily Devotional