Here is one of the oft misquoted out of context verses in our modern day. Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

You see the context? First the whole chapter is about a suffering Saviour who is crushed on our behalf. Then we see in verse five that it is our Lord that was wounded for our transgressions. It was He that was bruised for our iniquities and chastised for the sake of our peace. All of these things are healed, restored by the stripes He received on our behalf.

Exo 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

You see the context of ” I am the Lord that healeth thee.” There is a diligence in heeding the voice of God. There is an acknowledgement of doing what is right in the sight of God. What is right in the sight of God? To do the will of His Son Jesus. To follow the still small voice of the Lord according to His Word.

The great irony of diligently following God with all of your heart is that whether you live or whether you die loses its importance The single most important thing to almost every human being on the planet is to live, to survive. Yet the born again saint who is diligently following the Lord and seeking first His Kingdom seeks only to glorify God.
Healing or no healing is in the hand of God. What matters is our chief end in life, to glorify the one true living God. To heed His voice with diligence. Jesus gave us everything that we need to live well and also to die well. Let us live well brothers and sisters and let us die well brothers and sisters and let us do it all to the glory of God.

There is a place where your longing and your will, embrace. It’s a genesis. It is the true beginning of a change in the spiritual life of a saint. There is no power in longing alone. Longing, without the accompanying will, is no different than good intentions. We know that there is a broad road, a steep hill, that goes all the way down into hell and that hill is paved with good intentions as the old adage goes.

There is nothing more tragic than one who hears the words of Jesus, who agrees with the words of Jesus but who, in the end, does not do the words of Jesus. It is in the doing that we take possession of the promises of God. It is when the longing intersects with the will that something radical happens. Something dies and in that death spiritual life springs forth. It is by an act of the will that we step forward and volunteer to die. And when we empty ourselves of the things of this world, when they die upon our own cross, then spiritual life rushes in and our inner man is empowered and infused and our outer men are changed into the image of of our Lord.

Working out your salvation is gloriously noble and difficult. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. It is a quest full of multiple obstacles that require to be overcome. In and of ourselves we could never do it, but we have been gloriously enabled. What was not possible is now possible but you must reach our and take a hold of it. You must possess that which was given to you. It is yours by virtue of the new birth. The Lord overcame so that we too could,by the power of the Spirit, overcome. I pray that today your will, will have, a radical encounter with your longing so that it gives birth to change.