In this article I am going to share with you how our attitude in general must be while we face a crisis or go through a valley experience. The Bible says that the Israelites began to dance and praise the Lord after they crossed the Red sea and saw the Egyptian army with their chariots and horses drown in the sea. There was a great celebration. But soon after this, they went on their journey in the wilderness for three days and found no water. Exodus 15:23-27 says “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah”. {Marah: that is Bitterness}
24) And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
25) And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
26) And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
27) And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.encamped there by the waters.
1) Imagine after celebrating such victory and seeing the Egyptian army destroyed, the Israelites began to murmur when they came across the bitter waters at Marah. While as Marah was their temporary halt and the next halt was Elim where there were 12 wells and 70 palm trees, and they were to halt there for a considerable time. The first thing that we all need to know is that, all the valley experiences are only temporary. Our God is a good God, Who leads us from faith to faith, strength to strength and Glory to Glory but in between if we had to go through the valley then He will be with us to guide us. David said, 'Yea, though I walk through the valley Of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. " (Psalms 23:4)
Beloved, if you are going through any situation where you are having a bitter experience, let me remind you that this is not your future, this is only a temporary - passing phase. This will also soon pass away and God will lead you to your Elim. A place of rest and refreshing!
2) At Marah was the time for Israelites to remember the past acts of God and His mighty delivering power. Instead of murmuring they should have said, "The God Who brought us out of Egypt with His mighty hand, will provide us our need for our Journey. "
Beloved, in the valley it's the time to recollect God's faithfulness and His mighty works which He has performed in your life and see how many times He has saved you in the past, helped you and brought you safe thus far. You need to praise Him for this with all your heart.
3) The Israelites should have thought about the promise that God made to them concerning taking them to the Promise Land. So, in the valley it is the time to remember the promises that God made for our future. Paul writes to Timothy, "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;" (1Timothy 1:18).
a) Hold on to every promise and start thanking and praising God for His ability to fulfill what He has said. It is the time to show Him your faith.
b) The Promises of God are also given to you to make a good warfare against every lies and negative thing that the devil brings against you by saying, "Devil whatever situation you may bring against me but it will be done to me even as it has been promised to me by my God. I am going to see God's promise fulfilled in my life".
4) The Bible says, "Moses cried out to God" Look at his attitude. The best thing to do when you don't understand the situation is to pray and cry out to God for His help, wisdom and direction. The testimony of David is, "l sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles”. (Psalms 34:4 & 6)
Blind Bartimeus cried out to Jesus and got his healing. God said in Jeremiah 33: 3 "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not". Prayer is the key that unlocks the door to revelation and revelation will bring you out of the valley. See the next thing that God did.
5) Then God showed (revealed) Moses a tree and asked him to cast it into the bitter water and as he did - the water became sweet. As God showed Moses the tree as a solution to the problem, See and hear what God is showing/telling you as a solution to your situation.
God will surely show you as to what you got to do concerning the problems in your family, business, finance, ministry, etc. JESUS said; "Seek and you shall find." If there is a problem with you or elsewhere He'll show you the problem and the solution. God will show you what to do! Don't give up - Seek His face! There is no problem which God cannot solve. Seeing what God shows and hearing what He says has everything to do with your destiny.
Always Remember Our Provision for Every Situation Is In The Cross
6) Always remember our provision for every situation is in the Cross. The tree here which Moses cast in the water is a picture of the cross and when the life and the power of the cross comes into our situation then even our bitter situation will turn into sweet. 2000 years ago the cross of Jesus entered the sea of the sinful humanity and salvation came to mankind. No matter what you have achieved in life, till the cross of JESUS comes into your life there will always be a kind of dissatisfaction in your life. But once Jesus comes into your life everything will change.
Even in our personal lives unless we are crucified to our 'SELF' with Christ and start living for Him who died for us there will always be some kind of carnal nature in us no matter how spiritual we may think we are. Therefore, let the ‘Self’ in us be crucified with Christ. Prayer life along with crucified SELF will open up revelation knowledge for you!
CONCLUSION: Till now we have studied about what we have to do in the valley. Now let us see what God does. The Bible says that God made a covenant with the Israelites. And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. (verse 26)
God became their Healer. In every valley there is a new revelation of God. God will become something to you. Not necessary that you have to go through a valley experience to get a revelation of God - No. There is a revelation on the mountain too. But God in His mercy stoops down to us in the valley and reveals Himself to us in a new dimension to encourage us because He loves us. Beloved, there is a new revelation of God waiting for you. God is going to enter into a covenant relationship with you. Don't give up! God loves you and He will reveal His nature to you.
God Bless you!
S.R. Manohar
