Words of Worth

After the Test, Rest!

October 28, 2011

One of the most fascinating courses I took in college was Child Psychology in which every topic, lecture, and class was highly interesting and motivating. It didn’t matter that the lecture hall was clear across the campus. I always made the trek with a song in my step. However, on exam days I changed my tune to a dirge because the test contained only multiple choice questions with choices ranging from A to P. Each question required wading through several options of “more A than M” and “both G and H but mostly L”. After three hours of mental gymnastics, and no longer enamored with the course, I returned to my dorm room and took to my bed until the next day. After the test, I needed rest!

In Exodus 15, we find a beautiful victory song that the Israelites sang after God delivered them from Pharaoh and his army. Soon after Pharaoh released the Israelites, he changed his mind and pursued hard after the children of Israel. Blocked in front by the Red Sea and behind by the Egyptian army, God used the rod of Moses to make a way for His people through the sea. And the Israelites sang in exultation that no one was like their God!

Three days into the wilderness of Shur, the Israelites lost the song in their step as they did not have any water and became so parched and thirsty. It was then that they saw the waters of Marah and hope rose within their hearts only to discover that the waters were too bitter for even a camel to drink. The Israelites grumbled to Moses, who in turn cried out to the LORD, who showed Moses a tree that when thrown into the bitter waters of Marah, made the waters sweet. Scriptures tell us, “God tested them there.”

Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. 26 And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
(Exodus 15:25-26)

Once the children of Israel left Marah, they made their way to Elim, where they found twelve springs of fresh water and seventy palm trees. God had turned their bitterness into sweet refreshment!

How interesting that we face the same kind of testing today! The Israelites had to listen to the voice of the LORD, do what was right, and obey His commandments. That pattern is the same pattern for victory when we face bitter circumstances which might otherwise bring disillusionment, discouragement, and disgruntled feelings.

When we experience the difficult circumstances of life, when bitterness fills the wells of our lives, we need to remember that God can turn them sweet. Our bitter circumstances test and teach us to trust God-Elohim, El Elyon, Jehovah Jireh-to meet our every need.

There is healing for your deepest pains and disappointment– healing for your past-victory is in sight! If you have become thrown off course at Marah, bitter in your soul and spirit, the only way you can go from Marah to Elim and find sweet water is to turn to Jehovah Rapha. Jesus is Jehovah Rapha, almighty to heal. (SV)