Sermon Library

Father Andrew Lang

Three Barriers to Healing

© 2000 Alcress Communications

Some Christians interpret the journey of the children of Israel to the promised land as an analogy of our own spiritual pilgrimage. This afternoon, as we gather for a healing service, we come with the expectation that the Lord will move among us. I would like to use this analogy to explore some aspects of the healing ministry using the experience of the Israelites at Rephidim, the place where they found no water. As we contemplate how the Lord moved among the Israelites at Rephidim, their experience highlights three barriers to God's working among us.

The first barrier is Memory or rather forgetfulness. Around Christmas in Western Africa, there is a season that is known as the Harmitan. The days are hot and the nights cold (relatively speaking) and the winds blow from the north and pick up the dust from the Sahara. The air is dirty and dry. So dry in fact, that your lips and feet will crack. Any travel in this season is unpleasant and the dryness makes water a valuable product and thirst is an ever-pressing problem. This thirst is not just for a cup of tea after the service, but the feeling that without water, your whole body will disintegrate into dust. So oppressive is this season that the whole of life seems to focus on the next drink. These were the conditions that the children of Israel faced as they reached Rephidim after the long trek across the wilderness. And when they found no water, they became obsessed and could focus on nothing else. They had come into the desert after a miraculous liberation from slavery at the hands of Pharaoh and had crossed the sea on dry land and seen and followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Each day, food came from above - Manna - that heavenly bread that the Lord had promised, but now as they reached Rephidim, there was no water and the pressure of the present problem caused them to forget the Lord's provision thus far.

It is easy when faced with a problem, to loose sight of everything else. If you have ever experienced the excruciating pain of a toothache you will know that this singular pain demands total attention, to the point where it is impossible to thing of anything else. Often when we come to God for a healing or a blessing, we are so focussed on our present situation that it is easy to forget his goodness of the past.

Barrier number 2 is Anger The response of the Israelites was to seek to apportion blame. Since God had brought him into the desert then he was responsible and they focussed all this anger upon him and his servant Moses. Often in our frustration, we turn against God and blame him for that circumstance in which we find ourselves. If God is not identifiable, we may curse the church instead. This is like cutting of our noses to spite our face as we find ourselves turning our back on our source of help. As much as Moses had been responsible for bringing them out into the desert, he was also to be the source of their restoration.

Barrier number 3: the Leadership. The story tells of Moses going to God, not as an intercessor, but as a peeved leader. Moses cried out to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!!" As the people blamed God for getting them into this situation, Moses blamed God for giving him the people. In God's response we see Moses two failings - First he failed to lead; and second he did not recognise the power he already had.

These three barriers are equally applicable to the churches ministry of healing as to the Israelites plight. Recognising these barriers is the start of breaking them down and producing an effective healing ministry. The first obstacle, that of focus, can be hard to tackle. Often we as individuals become so bound up in out own little world, particularly when we are ill, that we cannot see out. The children of Israel went wrong, failing to look at the big picture, those things that God had already done for tem and only focussed in on the things that they expected him to do now. The psalmist recognised the importance of this need in Psalm 103 and we would do well to mark these words:

Do not forget his benefits…… And what were those benefits? The psalmist goes on to tell us:

• Who forgives all you iniquity,
• Who heals all your diseases,
• Who redeems your life from the Pit
• Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
• Who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Part of we do each time we gather in our churches for communion is about remembering. To remember is a focus of the Holy Communion. But we must go beyond that. We can also help each other and remind each other what the Lord has done. Those times when I am distracted, when I am bound up in my own troubles, a sensitive brother or sister and bring me back to the real world and shift our focus from ourselves to God.

The second obstacle to healing may lie within, how we feel about our circumstances. Ephesians tells us to "Be angry, but do not let the sun go down on our anger". For we are not to feel guilty about angry feelings, but neither are we to hang on to them. Reconciliation, a focus of Jesus ministry from the cross, is everyone's business. Scripture warns us to forgive others to pave the way for God's forgiveness of ourselves. This is another dimension of the communion service. As we share the bread and the cup, we have tho opportunity to forgive. We may need to forgive God for the state in which we find ourselves

The third obstacle, the failure of leadership is a warning to each of us with leadership roles. The church (through her leadership) is often guilty of failing to point others to the healing ministry of Jesus. Like Moses, we can forget the resources that we have. This afternoon, as we anoint the sick and lay hands upon them, we must not see this as special or out of the ordinary, but rather the natural extension of Jesus ministry on earth.

And now as we finish let us, you and I look back at the story. God gave to these people what they needed, what they desired, almost in spite of themselves. A timely reminder that it is not our merit that is important but God's mercy. We cannot presume to come trusting in our own righteousness, but in God's manifold and great mercy.

Let us remind ourselves again of God's goodness to us and allow ourselves to be reconciled to each other.

Let us now pause for a moment in silence to reflect on those barriers to healing that we are placing in God's way.