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Once again, we’re wrapping up our eight-week inductive study on another of God’s names, YHWH Rapha, the LORD your healer. Next week, we’ll begin studying the final name we’ll examine in this series, though we’ve by no means reviewed all of them. If you want to study a name we haven’t examined, work with the Holy Spirit and dig into it on your own! I’d love to hear about your experience: feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or through my contact page on this website and let me know how it’s going.

This past week, we used the process described in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 to consider how we can put what we’ve discovered here to practice. Here’s how the Spirit directed me.

Last Week’s Work

LESSON(S) LEARNED
As I reviewed my study notes, the Holy Spirit pressed me to see that sometimes what we need is so bitter we can’t swallow it. Like the water at Marah, though, God can transform that bitter necessity into something more palatable. In the process, we learn to listen and follow His commands.

This side of heaven, we’ll never do that perfectly. But believe me, He rewards even modest attempts to do His will.

CONVICTION

This week I’m also studying King Asa (2 Chronicles 15 and 16) with a group from my church. We discovered how he sought the LORD and achieved great victory over Judah’s enemies, only to later turn to his own strategy (not rely on the LORD) when faced with a crisis instigated by the king of Israel. Though it seemed he solved that problem, things got much worse for him.

That story and this study have convicted me that my “default mode” is more like Asa’s than Moses’s. It’s difficult for me to ask for help, and really difficult for me to admit I need it. And that is what the Spirit is charging me to change: to trust in God and not make my own way.

CORRECTION

The verse that corrects me is a cross-reference to the Book of James that tells me to admit my sin to others and pray. You might remember, last week I mentioned my struggles with this website and my not-so-effective attempts to resolve them until I asked for help from someone else. I believe the Spirit is reminding me to seek help and direction from the God who heals and to accept His and other people’s assistance rather than trying so hard to remain self-sufficient.

ACTION PLAN

I am praying for the Holy Spirit’s conviction every time I start trying to fix things myself, especially when I don’t know what I’m doing! I’m asking that He soften my heart to clearly recognize when I need help from the LORD or other people. And I promise to pray and seek God first.

Our Next Study

Next week, we’ll begin our last study for this year, wrapping up this series on the names of God with the name El Shaddai (God Almighty) as revealed in Psalm 91. What better way to celebrate the Christmas season than by contemplating the Almighty One who sent His Son to save us? I hope you’ll join me and study Psalm 91, too!