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.
He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)
I am the Lord, who heals you. Jehovah-Rapha. Our Lord heals. God pledges to always be their healer, But He expects their obedience. If God jas led you to the better waters with some physical ailment, you must learn to trust him. Be obedient in the difficult times as well as the good. It is not an easy lesson to learn.
Healing for your life. The Old Testament is full of occasions where because the Lord heals, people have been restored physically. King Hezekiah was healed and granted fifteen more years of life (Isaiah 38:5).
The healing of water symbolizes the physical and spiritual healing we need. It is powerful when people realize it is ultimately God who heals. We might take the need of physical healing lightly until we ourselves need that healing.
When we pray to God for healing, we are praying to Jehovah-Rapha. We believe and worship a God who not only is able to heal but is willing to do so and reveals himself as Jehovah-Rapha. The Lord who heals you.
God is able to heal, weather it be through the agency of medicine or divine intervention. We know from Scripture that at times in God’s sovereignty He chooses not to heal. Like when Paul had a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7).
We know when Jesus came he healed many of physical infirmities. It was part of establishing his identity as the Messiah. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor (Matthew 11:5).
The greatest need any person has in their life is the need to be healed from spiritual sickness of sin. Jesus preached the good news to the poor (and to the rich). Jesus is the great physician. He came to heal the sick and the poor in spirit. and restore our relationship with God, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17).
Jesus first forgave sin of the paralyzed man. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5)
That was more important than the physical healing. But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:10-12).
God is interested in more than your physical wellbeing, but your spiritual. In fact, He is most interested in your spiritual condition. Accepting Christ means you will spend eternity in heaven where there is no more sickness and no more death.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus died on the cross to make bitter water sweet. To heal the spiritual sickness of sin.
Do you recognize a need in your life? Take it to Jehovah-Rapha. The Lord, the one who heals you.
