We Can Be Healers
I was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in New York, and have lived in Virginia most of my life now with my wife and family. The great rivers of Virginia like the James and the Rappahannock were not born the way you see them as you stand on the bank. Great bodies of water are born in the mountains; in remote places. They begin as little streams trickling down and carving out a path until they meet the river. The river flows into the bay and on and on. We need that water; our bodies survive from it, the land requires it. Without sustainable water, everything withers and perishes. Just like in the land of Jericho in the days of Elisha the prophet.
The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive. Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’” And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken. -- 2 Kings 2:19-22 (NIV)
Jericho was part of the promise of God. It was a beautiful city, but the waters were sick.
The man of God did what he knew would heal the waters – he prayed and gave it to God. Now, he could have set up a committee, analyzed the situation, gone to the county to file a report, or tried to fix the problem himself. There was too much at stake to leave it to anyone but the Almighty because if the water is sick, the people will die.
The land was barren because of the tainted water supply. It was unfruitful. People could not make a living; they could not nourish their families. This sounds like what many are going through today on a different level. Spiritually, the water is sick, and the people are perishing.
Jericho sits in the middle of the desert. Smack in the center of the dry places is a lush, green garden springing with plants and life. But when the water supply became impure, everything began to die. Isaiah gives us a gruesome picture of how sin and rebellion can dehydrate our lives.
Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil. -- Isaiah 1:4-6 (NIV)
Somewhere along the line, Israel forgot about the promise, and they forgot about the Lord. The United States and Israel seem similar in that way. The solution for our thirst, nationally and individually, is found at the well.
Referring to the water the people relied on to satisfy and sustain themselves, Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14
In Scripture, “waters” speak to the spiritual condition. The state of our nation and existing in the hearts of man are symptoms of poisoning. Are you drinking the wrong kind of water? Do you know someone who displays a beautiful outward landscape, but they are sick on the inside? Unable to produce anything of substance? We must react as the prophet did because that is our calling. The calling of the church is to be healers.
You are here to bring a solution. You are placed wherever you are to prepare and provide healing to the spiritual waters those around you are consuming. All of a sudden, change happens. People’s lives are transformed, they begin to prosper and produce because you can bring healing through the gifts of the Spirit in the church. That is what the Word of God does. You are a healer, delivering the Living Water that is Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, Help me to be aware of the hungering and thirsting around me. Give me the courage to boldly present You as the solution – the everlasting, living water. You have placed me in each area of my life intentionally. I surrender my gifts and time for You to use to bring healing to the world around me. In Your Name, Amen.
