The Lord Who Heals You Series

Have you ever heard someone say something like this? I faced a situation in my life where all seemed hopeless from a medical standpoint. But God, in response to prayers of His people, worked a miracle in my life. God healed me!

You have likely heard something like that multiple times. What do we make of reports such as this? If you have heard healing testimonies like this, they are consistent with what the Bible reveals to us about God and His character.

Not only does God provide, Jehovah-Jireh, but He heals. God showed his character as provider when Abraham was called to sacrifice his son Isaac. But also, God heals. He is Jehovah-Rapha. That is the name that God gives himself, the Lord our healer.

This is what we find in Exodus 15:22-26. God says, I am Jehovah your healer. God works a miracle in the wilderness when the children of Israel need a miracle. The bitter water was made pure.

The scene of this text takes place following one of the most monumental events in the history of Israel. It follows the Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea. The Old Testament and the New Testament refer repeatedly to this great event.

For the Israelites it was a time of celebration. Their celebration was exuberant and all in a way that was pleasing to God. Moses had stretched out his hand, the waters divided, and the Israelites crossed the sea on dry ground. When the Egyptians crossed Moses stretched out his hand again and the Egyptians were swept into the sea.

There was celebration after the crossing of the Red Sea. There was the song of Moses and Miriam. I will sing to the Lord. He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider thrown into the sea. All the women followed Miriam with tambourines and dancing.

After all this celebration the people set out in the desert. The songs of celebration go right up to the text of Jehovah-Rapha. This story of bitter water to sweet water is the first wilderness experience.

To get a better picture of how serious a water problem is in the desert for the Israelites consider their number is 600,000 men plus women and children. There are over one million people needing a drink of water.

The theme is the wilderness is Israel sustained by the Lord. This was done by a series of miracles. Because they were on the move, they had no opportunity to grow food and harvest the land. There was no consistent water source. They depend on God to daily supply their needs. They are about to experience the reality of this.

After the parting of the Red Sea there was celebration the first day. By the second day they are getting thirsty. The third day they reached a point of desperation. The great victory was overshadowed by their extreme thirst.

Here they cry out for water. In the next chapter they cry out for food. Finally after 3 days they come upon some water. They rush to the water. There must have been great temporary excitement.

The water is so bitter they cannot drink it. By now the people are furious. They are not thinking about the victory at the Red Sea. They are thinking about this problem and their situation of dire thirst.

They had a need for water, but they could not drink it because it was bitter. The place was called Marah. The meaning is bitter. In the story of the book of Ruth, Naomi’s name means pleasant. But she changed her name to Mara, that means bitter.

Naomi changed her name to Mara because of this experience the Israelites had, this bitter experience. They thought they were doomed to die. They cried out for Moses to do something. It was easy to trust God when He divided the Red Sea, but difficult three days later when there was only bitter water. They were being tested. They failed the test. They grumbled and complained.

The Israelites were brought to the bitter water to learn to trust God in difficult situations. You probably know how hard it is to trust God when the situation is bitter. He know it is hard and we know we should trust God in the difficult times.

Moses did the right thing when the people complained to him. He turned to God. Moses prayed to God. Then God showed Moses a tree and Moses threw it in the water. The water became sweet.

There is no known tree you can throw in water to make it become sweet. God again worked supernaturally in the midst of his people. It was never God being tested here. It was the people being tested.

The purpose of the Miracle shows God heals. God can heal all diseases. God uses this as an occasion to give them law prior to the Sinai and the ten commandments. God expects obedience from His people.