Thank God for doctors, nurses and all of the dedicated healthcare professionals who provide medical care to hurting people. We need them from cradle to grave, and they play a critical role in life. But they do not heal, for only God can heal. They are God’s instruments, or as Dr. Richard J. Foster likes to call them, “God’s friends, the doctors.”

Any physician wise and humble enough to speak truth will tell you that he or she doesn’t heal, but merely helps. Modern medicines and devices, imaging and surgical techniques have advanced in unimaginable ways. However, it is God who ultimately uses those innovations for our good and his glory. Since we live in a time when new medical breakthroughs are being made at record speeds, we have come to expect a pill or procedure to always enable us to live better and longer.

The truth is that good health and longevity are not a right, but a privilege. We would do well to remember that every beat of our heart and every breath we take is a gift from the Great Physician, Jesus, the Son of God. If we’re willing to help, we can be his instruments of healing to a hurting world.

“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” MOTHER TERESA

MATTHEW 8:2–3 (NLT) Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

1 PETER 2:24 (NLT) [Jesus] personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.

ISAIAH 53:4–5 (NLT) He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

JAMES 5:13–15 (NLT) Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.

PSALM 103:3 [The Lord is the one] who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

JEREMIAH 30:17 “But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,” declares the LORD.