Nov. 26, 2013
Exodus 15-Part 4
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them.
Exodus 15:25c NIV
LET IT GLOW
Have you ever been stuck in sand and water while in a van loaded with people? That happened to me on my mission team a year ago past summer. We only wanted to go to the beach. A hurricane had hit the Dominican Republic earlier and made a mess of roads and bridges. We tried to detour, but we got stuck instead. So a few of the younger guys got out of the van and pushed it to more solid ground.
Being stuck was a helpless feeling. If we had all needed to empty out the van in order for it to go, that would have made us women very upset. I can see us up to our midcalfs and shoes. We did make it out, though, and headed back. If you have ever felt stuck in a difficult or bad situation, let God pull you out. He has strong arms of love.
Okay, when reading chapter 15, I realized that I'm stuck in the city of Marah (bitter) with Miriam (rebellious). What a place to be. What a person to be with, huh? Have you been there too? Somehow I skimmed over this, but found it, and wanted to share it. "It" is found in...
Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament says:
It would be wonderful to linger at the seaside and praise the Lord, but the believer is a pilgrim and must follow God's leading. How strange that God should lead them to a place without water. Yet God must discipline His children so that they (my emphasis) may discover their own hearts. This experience (bitter water) taught the people of Israel some valuable lessons:
1. About life
Life is a combination of the bitter and sweet, triumphs, and trials. We must accept the bitter waters
with the sweet, knowing that God knows what is best for us.
2. About themselves
Life is a great laboratory, and each experience x-rays our hearts to reveal what we really are. The
waters revealed that the Jews were:
- worldly, thinking only of bodily satisfaction;
- walking by sight, expecting to be satisfied by the world;
- ungrateful, complaining to God when trials came their way.
3. About the Lord
God knows the need because He plans the way. He used the tree (suggesting the cross, 1Peter 2:24)
to make the bitter waters sweet. He is Jehovah-Rapha, "The Lord Who Heals."
God did not bring them into the wilderness so they could die there. He wanted them to worship and follow Him, establishing a unique and peculiar nation.
Do we worship and serve God when life is bitter? Even if He doesn't answer our desperate prayer in order for His will to be accomplished? do we worship and serve God when life is sweet? Or do we get busy with and doing things instead?
LET IT GROW
Before moving on, God promised Israel a long-ranged exemption from the diseases of Egypt, conditioned upon the people's continued obedience. (Falwell)
God says He will not bring on them any diseases which He brought on the Egyptians, for He is the LORD, who heals, if they will:
- listen carefully to the voice of the LORD thy God,
- do what is right in God's eyes,
- pay attention to God's commands,
- keep His decrees.
Do we listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to us?
Do we do what is right in God's eyes?
Do we pay attention to God's commands? Do we daily read His Word so we know what He says to us?
Do we keep His decrees? Do we know what they are?
Things to think about, friends.
LET IT GO
Praise the Lord during bitter/sweet times.
X-ray my heart; self-examination.
Take my needs to the foot of the cross; to the One who heals-Jehovah Rapha.
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