An insomniac's Psalm 103: Verse 3

". . . who forgives all your iniquity and heals all your diseases . . ."

What do "iniquity" and "diseases" have in common? They are both out of place in the kingdom of God. Jesus came to do away with the one and the other (1 John 3:8). And in both cases, the process of "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is a process that begins now. "The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:8). The invading power of the eschaton is pushing back against man's sinful tendencies (1 John 3:9; 1 Peter 4:1-2) and pushing back against man's hell-borne diseases (Malachi 4:2; Acts 9:34). We see the patches of green in the White Witch's frozen realm, that increase in circumference still there is more green than ice.

I wonder, did the psalmist know that forgiveness of his sins and healing of his illnesses were granted by God not out of some general beneficence (although God identifies himself later in this psalm as "merciful and gracious"), but out of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus? Well, perhaps he did---years of animal sacrifices must have made some impact on the psyche. But surely I, on this side of Calvary, have no excuse for fuzzy thinking on this point: Both my soul's healing and my body's healing are provisions of the Atonement. Forgiveness of sins and removal of disease have redemptive grounds. Isaiah 53:4-5 prophesied it; Matthew 8:16-17 ratified it.

God is directly involved in his creation. He makes grass grow for the cattle (Psalm 104:14). Likewise, when my heat rash is healed or my headache goes away, God has done that too. It's not as if there are some things in the universe that are "on automatic" and other things that are done by God's immediate supernatural intervention.

We like to think this way: the healing of a paper cut on my finger---natural; the healing of my cancer---supernatural. God makes no such distinction; it's all the same to him. Just as easy to heal a cancer as a cold. Just as easy to cure a cancer as to forgive sins (Mark 2:9). And when he has touched me to dissolve the cancer that is still just the smallest release of the vast store of power that he possesses. Like a father wrestling on the floor with his 3-year-old son, he is always holding back his full power lest he overwhelm us.

To read "Verse 4," click here.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.