Look at this beautiful request embedded in one little sentence of Psalm 41: “I said, ‘Lord, be merciful to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You’” (verse 4 NKJV). The psalmist, knowing that he has gone wrong in his relationship with God and others, asks the Lord for healing.

Human beings, by nature separated from the God who made them, have sickly spirits that are curved away from God. By nature, we shun the very One who provides the straightening and healing that we need. But as children of God, we grow in trust, love, and relationship with the Lord, and our situation improves. Our forgiven souls are transformed and healed. 

The sin that we inherited and our own misdeeds are forgiven, but the damage done to our spirits by our selfishness toward God and others takes time to heal, as do the scars of sins perpetuated against us. But thanks be to God that we don’t need to be our own physician. We have El Rapha, the God who heals, as the initiator and sustainer in this work. We are forgiven, loved, and thought beautiful by our Lord. He himself guides our healing process.

Be ready, though; our good God is deliberate. He is capable of instant healing of body and soul, but for our own good growth, he tends to walk alongside us in our healing much as a parent teaching a toddler to walk: slowly, steadily, and patiently. It can be incremental work, and we will sometimes fall. But we will be healed!