Old Testament
Jeremiah 30:17-18
17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says the LORD, “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’”
18 The LORD says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place.
New Testament
Matthew 9:35-38
35 Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness amongst the people.
36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the labourers are few.
38 Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out labourers into his harvest.”
Jeremiah speaks a promise to an outcast people: “I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal.” The Lord does not pretend there are no wounds. He names them, and then he names his intention: healing, restoration, a future rebuilt.
Matthew shows us Jesus moving through towns and villages, teaching and proclaiming the kingdom, healing every disease and sickness among the people. Then, looking at the crowds, he has compassion. They are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. And he tells his disciples to pray for labourers.
Trusting God for healing is not refusing medicine; it is refusing despair. It is believing that care is not meaningless, that compassion is not wasted, that no one’s suffering is invisible to the Shepherd. Wholeness, in Scripture, is often communal: carried together, not achieved alone.
Lord Jesus, have compassion on the sick and the weary. Restore health where it is your mercy to do so, and give strength where healing is slow. Raise up labourers for your harvest: clinicians, carers, researchers, chaplains, counsellors, and friends. And make your Church a steady presence, holding hope for one another until wounds are healed and wholeness is made complete in you.