2 “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests.
It struck me as I read this that the person with leprosy was sent to see a Priest and not a Medical Doctor.
Now granted, the nation of Israel at this time didn’t possess the modern medicine (or anything like it) that have today. And let it be said that Doctors and modern medicine in general does a wonderful job and for it we should all be grateful (or else in some of our cases we wouldn’t be around to be grateful!).
But I do wonder if there is not something instructive in this verse for us today?
I wonder if today, even with our access to modern medicine and a wide range of pharmaceutical remedies at our finger tips, if we shouldn’t be more like what we read in this verse.
What I mean is, instead of turning to the medicine cabinet or the Doctor’s surgery we turn first to God.
By having the leprous person go to the priest, we are shown the connection between sin and sickness. Without sin, there is no sickness or disease. In other words, even today with our medical advances, the link between our physical ailments and our sin condition remains the same. And therefore, so does the remedy; Jesus.
I wonder how much more opportunity for God to move we would provide if we just simply turned to prayer before we turned to science? I wonder if instead of the Doctor we sought out a priest, that is born again believer and member of the “holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:15) in Jesus Christ we are called to be?
Just as the Old Testament pointed to the Priest as the one to seek out for the answer, how much more does the new covenant believer have the answer of healing, wholeness, deliverance, recovery? In Jesus we have the answer. Turn to Him.
PRAYER: Father, I ask for faith and for the opportunity to see you – the great physician – at work. I thank you for the healing power of Jesus death, burial and resurrection. In Jesus name, Amen.