Waiting, Healing…
Musings from the Garden
By Peggy Wyar
I sometimes read something in the Bible and the Holy Spirit will remind me of another scripture that seems totally unrelated. As I look at the new scripture there will be a word or phrase that seems highlighted. If I take the time to follow the trail that He wants to take me on, I am given an insight or a picture or an encouragement that I would have missed had I stayed on the path of my own understanding. The following thoughts are a path that the Spirit of God led me down, and I am so glad He did.
Isaiah 53:5 NIV “But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.”
As I keep moving from this 2024 Christmas season into 2025, it is good to remember that Jesus came to the earth with this purpose in mind - He came to die on behalf of all mankind to purchase our redemption. In the scripture from Isaiah 53, I read of the suffering that Jesus endured. He was pierced, crushed, punished and wounded for our transgressions so we could have peace and be healed.
As I studied the word healed I saw that the original language was rapha which means to mend (by stitching) or to cure (figuratively). This caught my attention because I had just read about waiting on the Lord in Psalm 40:1-3;
“I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.”
The first line says the psalmist waited patiently for the Lord. Wait (quavah) means to entwine or twist together. As I wait on the Lord (entwine myself and twist my desires with His) I can be assured that He hears me, He lifts me onto a firm Rock and gives me praises to sing out. I can be patient as I am engulfed by His presence. Entwined sounds a bit like being stitched together, doesn’t it?
Another scripture, Isaiah 61:1 says this:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,…”
Bind up, in the original language, is a term that means to wrap firmly or compress, and brokenhearted is a term indicating a burst heart. In Luke 4:18, Jesus read this same scripture to a gathering of Jews and then informed them that He was the fulfillment.
Can you imagine with me? Picture Jesus picking up each small piece of your burst, shattered heart and fitting each broken part perfectly in its God-ordained place? Then He wraps and entwines and stitches and compresses it all together to mend your brokenness. How intimately connected are you and Jesus in this process of making your heart whole again!
Knowing that the waiting has purpose, and that Jesus is so closely involved with my healing can give peace. I can wait with hope, knowing my healing is in His capable Hands.
Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his Word I put my hope.”
Because I followed the path that the Holy Spirit took me on, I saw Jesus in a new light. As I wait on the healing that I want to happen in me, I can say with confidence that being entwined with Jesus is far better than being tied up in knots.