“IF ONLY”
THE TANAKH AND HEALING
Ken
Graydon
The
Tanakh uses the expression “if .. only” several times to show us how we
complain about lack, either of health, of prosperity or some other loss in our
circumstances – because we have not made correct choices.
We
have a saying around here ‘that if the way you live makes you sick – you
need to change the way you live’.
I
am researching for a book about Tanakh Healing and this material is from a
proposed first chapter.
Most
of the times the expression “if only” is used in the Tanakh it is for a
negative reason.
Exodus
16:3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of
ETERNAL in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill
of bread! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole
congregation to death.”
Numbers
14:2 All the Israelites railed against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had
died in the land of Egypt”, the whole community shouted at them, “or if only
we might die in this wilderness!”
Numbers
20:3 The people quarrelled with Moses, saying, “If only we had perished
when our brothers perished at the instance of ETERNAL”
Deuteronomy
28:67. In the morning you shall say, “If only it were evening!” and in
the evening you shall say, “If only it were morning!” – because of what
your heart shall dread and your eyes shall see.
Each
of these examples – and there are several more in the Tanakh, just as bad –
show how the Israelites were constantly complaining, arguing and rejecting the
good that ETERNAL was bringing into their lives. You have to remember that the
whole ‘Exodus experience’ came about because ETERNAL answered the prayers of
the people who were suffering under slavery in Egypt. Each one of these people
was in the place they had asked ETERNAL to put them in. “Get me out of this
slavery – take me to the land You promised us through Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob!”
That
has to be a very important lesson for us. We are in the place, and
circumstances, that our life, prayers and relationship with ETERNAL has brought
us to. It is the right place for the person you are today. They are the right
circumstances for the person you are today. You are in a place of answered
prayer.
Now,
if it happens that you are not completely happy, or you are not abundantly
prosperous, or not overflowing with good health you need to look at what you
have been asking for – and how you have been conducting your life.
Are
you saying to yourself “If only!”?
ETERNAL
offered you a contract that included every kind of blessing. Every contract has
two parties to it [at least] – ETERNAL has already signed His part of it. We
can read it in Deuteronomy chapter 28.
1
And it will be if you obey the Lord, your God, to observe to fulfill all His
commandments
which I command you this day, the Lord, your God, will
place
you supreme above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these
blessings
will come upon you and cleave to you, if you obey the Lord, your
God.
3 You shall be blessed in the city, and you shall be blessed in the field.
4
Blessed will be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your soil, the fruit of
your
livestock, the offspring of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep.
5
Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 You shall be
blessed
when you come, and you shall be blessed when you depart. 7 The
Lord
will cause your enemies who rise up against you, to be beaten before
you;
they will come out against you in one direction, but they will flee from
you
in seven directions. 8 The Lord will order the blessing to be with you in
your
granaries, and in every one of your endeavors, and He will bless you in
the
land which the Lord, your God, is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish
you
as His holy people as He swore to you, if you observe the
commandments
of the Lord, your God, and walk in His ways. 10 Then all
the
peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is called upon
you,
and they will fear you. 11 And the Lord will grant you good surplus in
the
fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of
your
soil, on the land which the Lord swore to your forefathers, to give you.
12
The Lord will open up for you His good treasury, the heaven, to give
your
land its rain in its [right] time, and to bless everything you do. And
you
will lend many nations, but you will not [need to] borrow. 13 And the
Lord
will set you at the head, and not at the tail, and you will be only at the
top,
and you will not be at the bottom, if you obey the commandments of
the
Lord, your God, which I am commanding you this day, to observe to
fulfill
[them]. 14 And you shall not turn right or left from all of the words I
am
commanding you this day, to follow other deities to worship them.
There
it is, very specific, very clear and just as valid today as on the day it was
written. Is this the story of your life – so far? Would you like it to be?
This
brings us back to our earlier statement, only this time we will say, if you
don’t like the way your life is going you have to change. We know that ETERNAL
does not change, we know that He does not move but we, somehow, get away from
Him. This is something you will see illustrated in Genesis. In chapter 1,
ETERNAL creates everything, including man and woman, and He declares it ‘very
good’. But in chapter 2 we find that the people look for some other knowledge
which separates them from ETERNAL and they can no longer be in His presence. It
is this belief that we are separated from ETERNAL, which is the cause of any
lack in our lives. It is a gap in our lives, which we try to fill, often in very
unsuitable ways. That is why there are no tribes of atheists.
So
the situation we are in, if we want it to improve so that we are receiving all
the blessings of the contract, means that we have to change. We have to repent
of the things we have done wrong and vow not to repeat them. We have to seek to
rebuild our relationship with ETERNAL so that we do not separate ourselves from
Him. All of our ‘good’ is in ETERNAL, any time we feel, or demonstrate, that
we lack something it is because we have allowed ourselves to become separated
from Him.
It
is when we are ‘at one’ with ETERNAL that He is able to bring miracles into
our life. Heavenly manna, ravens bringing you food, miracles of healing,
wonderful understandings may only be a prayer away, all the blessings of the
contract are available.
Discussion
points.
1.
Do
you agree that we are called to this ‘walk’ because we are trying to be
re-united with ETERNAL?
2.
Do
you have an experience, you can share, of ETERNAL answering your prayers for
healing?
3.
Do
you really believe that the Tanakh miracles, healing, raising from the dead,
miraculous supplies are available to us today?
4.
Isaiah
60:19,20 No longer shall you need the sun for light by day, nor the shining of
the moon for radiance [by night]; for ETERNAL shall be your light everlasting,
your CREATOR shall be your glory. Your sun shall set no more, your moon no more
withdraw; for ETERNAL shall be a light to you forever and your days of mourning
shall be ended.
Do
you see the closeness ETERNAL seeks with us. To be with us, as the light both
day and night?