What do you do when life hands you lemons? Do you make lemonade God’s way? Or are you like the Israelites who went 3 days without water in the desert and then grumbled and complained about God?
Imagine you are one of those Israelites. You’re feet are scorched, it’s hotter than hot, you don’t know where you are going or what you are doing, and worst of all you have this terrible thirst. Then you see the amazing fountains of Marah. You can almost taste the cool, refreshing water quench your parched throat. You run to the water, you cup your hands and bring up some of its coolness to your mouth… only to have it taste… bitter. Imagine how frustrated you would have been!
But what do you do with that frustration? If you are like the Israelites you murmur and complain first about Moses who led you there and then you turn on God. Though the Lord led them by the fiery and cloudy pillar, though He was with them, though He miraculously delivered them from the bondage of Egypt and promised to do them good, they did not trust Him. All they could see, all they could think about were the bitter waters before them and the thirst within them. Because they saw nothing good in God’s providence, they despised it. When they should have remembered God’s goodness, they thought only of their troubles. When they should have looked to their merciful Deliverer, they looked only upon Marah’s bitter waters. When they should have prayed, they murmured. When they should have believed, they grumbled.
How much are we like the Israelites when the bitterness of something like sickness – whether physical, emotional or spiritual in nature interrupts our lives? How many have cried out “Why me Lord? Why now?” We don’t handle these situations well. When we grumble, complain, or blame everyone else for our situation we do not have our eyes on God.
When we experience difficult circumstances and come to a place where disillusionment, despair, disappointment, or bitterness fill the wells of our life, we need to remember that God has the power to make the bitter into sweet. We need to remember that our bitter circumstances are there to test us and to teach us to trust the Almighty God to meet every need.
We need to run to Jehovah Rapha, the God Who Heals. Jehovah Rapha, is one of the redemptive names of God. This name reveals the healing attributes of God. Healing is the Hebrew word rapha and it means to mend, to cure, to repair and to thoroughly make whole. Jehovah Rapha is the God Who will mend your broken heart, cure your every disease, and repair all your broken and fragmented emotions. Jehovah Rapha will thoroughly make your spirit, soul and body whole. No sickness, disease, affliction, emotional pain or brokenness that Jehovah Rapha cannot totally heal, (make whole). Just as God promised his covenant people Israel, He has promised those in Jesus Christ that He would restore them to health if they become sick.
What path we take in running into His healing, restoring, repairing embrace is important. Looking at a passage in Exodus 15:22-27 we find guidelines for what we need to do in order for Jehovah Rapha to make our bitter waters sweet again.
First, we need to give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God. In other words, we need to listen to what the Lord is telling us. What might God be telling you in the midst of your sickness or pain? Are we open to what the Holy Spirit might be saying to us in our time of trouble or are we just wanting to escape the situation quickly? We need to be open to God leading us to change and not just ask God to heal us and then go back to the way we were living.
We also need to do what is right in God’s sight. In so many words, we need to behave righteously. Instead of responding by grumbling & complaining when you find yourself at Marah, do what is right. You can overcome your circumstances by focusing on the reliability of the nature of God. Because He never changes, you can know that He is loving ,trustworthy ,and will meet your every need.
We also need to obey all of God’s commands. We need to be obedient to His Word. Oftentimes we pick and choose what we will be obedient to like we are picking which items we want for lunch in the cafeteria line. When you find yourself with bitter waters, look to see if there are areas of disobedience in your life.
Look to how Moses handled the bitter waters of Marah. He called out to God and God showed him the tree. Moses threw the tree in the water and the tree made the bitter water sweet. Moses followed the guidelines. He prayed, he listened to God, and he obeyed. He made lemonade God’s way as should we when faced with trouble, sickness, or pain.
