Our many hospitals, doctors, and nurses demonstrate the importance of health in our lives. But did you know the Lord claims, “I the Lord am your Healer?” Exodus 15:26 not only explores this meaning but also addresses two key issues that we often face, even as believers.

• Why doesn’t God always heal us?
• Do we seek healing more than the Healer?

Coming after one of Israel’s greatest deliverances, the Exodus, the people soon face thirst, bitterness, and complaint. At Marah, God not only sweetens the water but reveals something deeper about Himself: He is Jehovah Rophe, the Lord who heals. 

This teaching presses beyond a shallow view of healing. God’s commands are not traps but paths that lead us into a deeper relationship with Him. Health is a gift, but the Healer is greater than health. In Christ, believers find abundant life now and the promise of complete restoration when the perishable is raised imperishable.

This passage also serves as the key passage for my book, The Lord Your Healer: Discover Him and Find His Healing Touch.

Study Questions

1. What happens between Israel’s praise in Exodus 15:21 and their grumbling in Exodus 15:22–24?
2. Why is the bitter water at Marah a powerful setting for God to reveal Himself as Healer?
3. What four responses does Exodus 15:26 call God’s people to give?
4. How does this message distinguish between obedience as a “formula” and obedience as a path into relationship with God?
5. Why is it important to seek the Healer Himself rather than only the healing we desire?
6. How does Jesus’ promise of abundant life in John 10:10 deepen the meaning of Jehovah Rophe?
7. What area of weakness, sickness, fear, or broken relationship should lead us to meet the Lord as our Healer?


Exodus 12:35-36 Reparation or Reward? (Part 1 of 4)

Part 1 (of 2) teaches and defends the Egyptian wealth transfer to the Israelites in Exodus 12:35-36 as an undeserved reward, a display of God’s favor, rather than reparations or repayment. Part 2 provides a fuller examination of reparations. People increasingly hijack Exodus 12:35-36 to support societal reparation, social justice, and Critical Race Theory.