Devotion: The Healer (Meditations on the Vocation of Motherhood)

The Healer

“Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw [Peter’s] wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them. When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.’” Matthew 8:14-17

There’s nothing worse than a baby spiking a high fever, except for maybe a child breaking a bone, or a teen with unexplainable pain. Illness and injury, especially in our darling children can make a mom feel desperate. Desperation stimulates prayer, but we can quickly become impatient with God’s timeline for healing, or doubt the goodness of His plan. We want our little ones better, and better now!

The Matthew’s purpose in writing His Gospel was to demonstrate Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies for his Jewish audience. His inclusion of the passage from Isaiah does just that, linking the Christ’s authority over sickness with our Savior Jesus, promised from of old. In God’s capable hands is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind (Job 12:10). Not only does Jesus have the ability to heal, He desires to heal, and demonstrates it by sharing in our human sufferings.

Experience observes that God does not always heal physical infirmities on earth, no matter how sincere and desperate the prayer. But, you can trust with unshaken faith that God hears your prayers, and has good plans for your child, injured or whole, beyond anything you could ever ask or imagine.

I lay my wants on Jesus, All fullness dwells in Him;
He healeth my diseases, He doth my soul redeem.
I lay my griefs on Jesus, My burdens and my cares;

He from them all releases, He all my sorrows shares. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary 239:2)

For Further Reading: Job 12:10-25; Matthew 8, 15:30-31

This devotion is provided to offer encouragement to all of you mothers out there, from my book, or my upcoming book, for free distribution. Please read, be encouraged, and share the love of Christ! This devotion is from the upcoming Meditations on the Vocation of Motherhood: Volume Two. It is brief, keeping in mind "mom-sized-moments" between all of our callings.

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