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Our God is Jehovah
Rapha — the Lord who heals you — and He longs to heal us of resentfulness,
bitterness, and pride if we will but trust Him and walk before Him in obedience
- let’s allow Him to examine our hearts and heal us of the diseases that sin
inflicts upon us
Leah Adams
In the 16th chapter of Exodus, we find a passage
of scripture that gives us a great deal of insight into our Jehovah Rapha.
This name of God is proclaimed to the children
of Israel by God through Moses at Marah.
The caption in my study Bible for this passage
of Scripture says “Bitter Waters Made Sweet”.
Let’s take a look at Exodus
15:22-26 (NIV) and mine the treasures contained there:
"Then Moses led Israel
from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they
traveled in the desert without finding water.
“When they came to Marah, they
could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is
called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, 'What are we to
drink?'
“Then Moses cried out to the
LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and
the water became fit to drink.
“There the LORD issued a ruling
and instruction for them and put them to the test. 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.'”
The Israelites are thirsty and in need of water
for themselves and their animals.
When they come to Marah they find only bitter
water to drink.
In what became second nature to them, they began
complaining to Moses about the scarcity of drinkable water.
It is at this point that the Lord seems to
change the subject.
Suddenly He begins talking to the Israelites
about the diseases and plagues that He brought upon the Egyptians because of
their affliction of the Hebrews.
God is very clear with the Hebrew people
concerning the actions that they must take to prevent the same kind of diseases
and plagues from visiting them.
If they will be obedient to Him, He will heal
them of disease and be their Jehovah Rapha.
I believe the bitter water at Marah was symbolic
of what was taking place in the hearts of the Hebrews.
They had suffered terribly in Egypt and had been
more than happy to leave the bondage that Pharaoh had inflicted upon them.
However, when freedom was not as easy or pretty
as they had hoped; when they had to rely on God completely for everything and
circumstances were not what they desired, their hearts began to be filled with
the diseases of bitterness and resentfulness.
God knew their need for healing from bitterness
and He longed to bring that healing to them.
Let’s apply this lesson to our hearts today. I
invite you to join me as we allow Jehovah Rapha to examine our hearts.
Are you and I more like the Israelites than we
care to admit?
When God doesn’t work in our lives in the way
that we think He should, do we grow bitter?
Do we begin to plan ways that we can make things
happen through our own efforts?
When God’s timing is different than we had
hoped, do we harbor resentment against Him?
How often do we look at people
in our lives who do not seem to have the same struggles that we have and pose
the question, “What did I do to make God mad at me? I am as good as they
are.”
He is Jehovah Rapha — the Lord who heals you —
and He longs to heal us of resentfulness, bitterness, and pride if we will but
trust Him and walk before Him in obedience. Let’s allow Him to examine our
hearts and heal us of the diseases that sin inflicts upon us.
Can God change your life?
God has made it possible for you to know Him
and experience an amazing change in
your own life. Discover how you can find peace with God. You
can also send us your prayer requests.
Speaker
and author Leah Adams is the founder of The Point Ministries. Her passion is
for others to understand the grace and second chances offered by Jesus to all
who ask. She is a CLASS certified speaker and the author of From the Trash Pile to the
Treasure Chest: Creating a Godly Legacy Bible study. Leah is a regular
contributor at CBN.com and Internet Café Devotions. She and her husband,
Greg, live in northern Georgia. Visit Leah's website.
https://www1.cbn.com/devotions/jehovah-rapha
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