Deuteronomy 7:15
“And the Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.”
We are on the third verse of the healing series and here is what I have learned so far. Both of the first two verses seem to suggest that a key ingredient of health is listening to the voice of God. Now, I suppose that should not come as a surprise but at the beginning of this series, would you have expected that to be the first point Father expressed? And, don’t be surprised that I said that this is what I am learning because I am right there with you. The first verse said, “give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments,” (Exodus 15: 26), so I am asking and listening along with you.
Today’s verse comes from a section in Chapter 7 subtitled, Promises of God. So, now you can say you have a promise from God regarding healing. He promises He will remove sickness. Here is the interesting bit though. You can tell that verse 15 is a continuation of previous verses. It even seems that it might express the result of what came before and, in fact, this is true. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but maybe God does. You have to go back to verse 12 to find out the context of this passage. Verse 12 reads, “If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the LORD your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you.” How great is that!? Even more interesting is that the verses between 12 and 15 include blessing your food and drink. So, here we are again. If we will listen to the Lord our God and obey Him, He will remove sickness from our midst.
Do you remember that the Jews had specific dietary guidelines and that those differed from other populations? What is that about? Do you think those guidelines were exactly what these verses speak to? I am not suggesting that God is telling you to go kosher. I am saying that He speaks to His people, leading them to healthy choices. I want to be clear in this too, what He speaks to me may not be the same as what He speaks to you. Maybe one person is advised to give up dairy or wheat while others are not. What I am explicitly saying is that Yahweh wants to remove all sickness from you because of the love covenant He made with you. He leads us to good health because that is what love does. It is imperative that we learn to inquire of Him and then to listen and obey.
Now, here is the hard part, listening. Tell the truth, do you sometimes get a little nagging feeling down inside of you about what you are eating? Do you get thoughts that would lead in a particular direction if you heeded them? Or, perhaps you hear a thought go through your head about drinking more water or getting up and walking a bit. God is rarely a loud voice in your head. He is gentle, more often nudging than pushing. We all need to become experts at hearing God’s voice and that often begins by listening to some of the quiet thoughts which float across your mind.
God is removing sickness from among us, as He promised to do. Our part in the bargain seems to be listening to His commands and faithfully obeying them.