RESTORATION OF HEALTH AND DIGNITY

‘But I WILL RESTORE HEALTH to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the LORD, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “this is Zion; no one seeks her”– Jeremiah 30:17 (NKJV)

These words of Jeremiah’s prophecy are very relevant to multitudes suffering from one form of affliction or the other in today’s highly vulnerable world. Millions are not only sick physically, but also mentally, socially, and spiritually. Many people feel rejected, and therefore depressed and dejected: ‘outcast’ that ‘no one seeks’! The word ‘outcast’ can also mean: castaway, exile, leper, outsider, pariah, persona non grata, recluse, reject, stray, and untouchable. Praise the Lord, we serve the God who heals and restores physically, socially, spiritually, and in all dimensions, both in time and for all eternity.

An outcast is a person who has been rejected or ostracised by society or a social group. Such a person endures a condition that is discomforting, is labelled by those who know him, rejected by those he knows, avoided by those he doesn’t know, and condemned to a future that seems hopeless. This is the case with many who have been enslaved by strongholds of sickness; social outcasts who are held in the claws of alcoholism, the trap of depression, the bondage of addiction to drugs, gambling, materialism or other vices; and others who are under the torture and oppression of demonic forces.

The attitude of the Lord Jesus to the outcast in Matthew 8:1-3 is worthy of mention and emulation. First, He took the risk of touching the need. When the leprous man asked for healing, Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. This was probably the first touch the leper had had from a ‘clean’ person in a long while. All of a sudden, the rejected saw that he was now accepted. He was no longer the outcast, at least as far as Jesus was concerned. His powerful touch cured not only the disease of the body, but also the depression of the soul, and the stigma of society.

Next to the Lord’s Touch were His Words: “I am willing; be cleansed”! Not mere words of pity, but words of compassion. Pity is sympathetic emotion; compassion is empathic action. Jesus’ words were tied to His actions. Added to the touch and the word was His Attitude: Jesus saw the person behind the need, not just as a problem. He didn’t just see a disease in need of cure, but a person created by God in His very own image; a person for whom God had plans; a person with a potential for restoration to health and wholeness! God sees way past your problems to the restoration of your potentials and possibilities.