With the rising cases of COVID-19, we have received a lot of prayer requests. Indeed we pray for both healing and a cure.
Is there a difference between healing and curing? A Centralian medical doctor who is also a pastor told me one time about these two terms. Dr. Florentino Alerta II said that a cure is primarily medical in nature and the objective is the elimination of the physical illness. Healing, on the other hand, may not necessarily mean a physical cure, but the improvement of the quality of life that includes the mental and spiritual health even if no physical cure is possible.
Indeed, healing and curing are different. To find a cure involves medicine while healing is becoming “whole.”
Jeremiah 30:17 says, “But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord…” In this verse we can see that God is both capable of curing us of our physical illnesses as well as healing us of our wounds — meaning, our traumas, our fears and anything that was broken because of the disease.
As prophesied by Isaiah, Jesus the Messiah is able to bring healing to anyone who believes in Him. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
So in this time of the pandemic let us pray not just for a cure but more importantly, for healing. Let us pray the prayer of Jeremiah “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” (Jeremiah 17:14)
May God’s healing be upon all of us.
Sincerely,
Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on