When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him,
“Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
“I am willing.”
Can you believe that? Jesus, who is at once God and man, who could easily dismiss any one of us as insignificant or unimportant, was willing to make a man with leprosy clean. A man with leprosy — the least of the undesirables. If I have the history right, lepers were required to walk around declaring, “Unclean, Unclean!” So, everyone around them cleared a path and stayed away.
Except Jesus.
Jesus, God in the flesh, did not clear a path. He responded to the leper by healing him. Bam. Done.
Because He was willing.
Since I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease, a few people have told me that if I claimed healing, and believed, it would happen. Do I believe God could heal me if he was willing? Yes. Bam. Done.
However, I have mentioned before that healing comes in a variety of packages. My autoimmune disease, if that is indeed what it is, has healed me of trying to do everything myself. It has healed me of a desire to be perfect. It has healed me from moving at a break neck pace. Could God have provided this healing in another way? Yes. Bam. Done.
But, from my perspective, He didn’t. And, I’m not mad about it. At all. Yes, I woke up this morning feeling like I had bathed in Icy Hot. Yes, it is a weird sensation. It’s not painful, just weird. Yes, my eyes have been irritated all day. Yes, I have joint pain and fatigue. But, at the same time, I have peace and joy that I have been missing for quite a while. I am at peace with myself and with God.
Did you notice that the leper didn’t ask to be healed? He asked to be ‘made clean’. The Bible mentions that we are ‘washed in the blood of the lamb’ and that we are made ‘whiter than snow’. This cleansing, from Jesus, makes us free to come near to God without having to yell, “Unclean, Unclean!” He washed us before we asked Him. Before we were asking, He was answering.
While I thought I was doing just fine, thank you very much, God ‘healed’ me. It may not look like healing from the outside, but I know what I feel on the inside. I have known for a long time that God is God and I am not. I am going to trust Him that He knows what He is doing.
And, you know, if He wants to heal me again, He will.
Isaiah 65:24
Before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
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