By His Stripes You Are Healed

Healing flows from Christ’s redeeming love — sometimes visibly, always faithfully.

Bible Readings

• Isaiah 53:5
• 1 Peter 2:24

Reflection

“By His stripes you are healed.”

These words are sometimes spoken as a slogan — a declaration meant to guarantee immediate physical recovery or visible breakthrough. When healing does not come as expected, disappointment or quiet confusion can follow. Yet Scripture never presents healing as a mechanical formula. It presents it as the fruit of Christ’s saving work and the loving freedom of God’s grace.

Isaiah’s prophecy speaks first of a deeper healing: the restoration of broken relationship between humanity and God. Peter echoes this when he writes that we were healed as we returned to the Shepherd of our souls. The cross addresses not only sickness in the body, but also the deeper wounds of sin, separation, fear, and brokenness. In Christ, the whole person is being restored.

And yet — God truly does heal today.

Healing remains part of God’s compassionate character and His present work in our lives. Sometimes it comes gradually through care, medicine, and patience. Sometimes it comes unexpectedly and unmistakably as a gift of grace. Always it comes from the same source: the love of God revealed in Christ.

In the summer of 2024, I experienced this again personally. I was diagnosed with a disc protrusion in my lower back that compressed the nerves and caused intense pain down my right leg. At its worst, I couldn’t walk and needed help even with basic tasks. It was a deeply humbling and vulnerable time.

Before this happened, God had given me a simple word through an elder one Sunday morning: “I’ve got your back.” At the time, I didn’t grasp how significant that would become. In the months that followed, those words became a quiet anchor — a reminder that I was not facing this alone.

God also used the prayers and encouragement of others in powerful ways. One morning stands out especially. I was in severe pain, and after my son helped me get dressed, he prayed for me. Later that morning, during a painful car journey to an appointment, he encouraged me to sing as I cried out. By that afternoon, the worst of the pain had eased dramatically, and I was able to walk again. It felt like an unmistakable answer to prayer — a moment of grace I will always treasure.

That experience did not remove every difficulty overnight, nor did it eliminate the need for ongoing care. But it reminded me that God is near, attentive, and active — not distant or indifferent. Healing is not something we command. It is something we receive. We remain people of hope, not control — trusting God in bodies that are still fragile and awaiting their final renewal.

To say “by His stripes you are healed” is not to deny the reality of suffering. It is to place suffering within the larger story of redemption. Christ has already borne the weight of our brokenness, and His resurrection life continues to bring restoration — sometimes visibly, sometimes quietly, always faithfully.

We live in hope, trusting the God who heals bodies, restores hearts, and one day will make all things completely new.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Thank You that my wholeness is secured by Your sacrifice on the cross. Whether healing comes through a moment of grace, the skill of a doctor, or the day You return, I trust that You have my back.

Amen.