Exodus 15

Moses did what the people  should have done. He did what we should do. ²⁵ And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. God miraculously gave him the solution. It sounds like that log somehow absorbed the bitterness of the water or neutralized whatever the problem was. It may have been a supernatural answer with a natural solution or a miracle.

Just think how God had prepared that tree for that very moment to be the solution to the problem and to teach His people. But even greater, is the fact that God prepared the cross, the solution to sin, from before the creation of the world. (Revelation 13:8[notes1] ) We can see a parallel in how the cross takes the bitterness out of life and provides living water to refresh us and enable us to make it through the journey of life. (John 7:37[notes2] )

There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, ²⁶ saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” This was the Lord’s lesson. Life will present you with all kinds of difficulties. You will be tested over and over again, but if you will listen to the voice of the LORD, and do what is right, obey His commandments, then He will be JHWH Rapha to us – the Lord that heals. The ailments of Egypt won’t follow them to the Promised Land.

Affliction is often the way that the Lord gets our attention. (Psalm 119:75[notes3] ) If we will listen and obey, He won’t need to get our attention. That is what was happening here. Where would they turn in the difficulty? Would they look to the Lord? Would they listen to His voice?

The greatest affliction of Egypt was a stubborn, unrepentant heart. That is the bitter affliction that God made sweet with a log on Calvary! If we will look to the LORD, He will be the healer of our sin sick souls.

Now remember, Jesus told us that not all affliction was the result of sin. (John 9:2-3[notes4] ) However, it is often the way that God gets us to face our sin. Learn the lesson without the illustration. Listen now. Obey now, and God will be JHWH Rapha to us.

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. As soon as the lesson was taught, they got a reprieve, a spring for every tribe and the shade of the palm for each elder. God gives us times of rest.

How quickly we go from celebrating God to complaining about our next situation! Remember, God is guiding us through it all and testing us to see if we believe today what we sang about yesterday. (1Chronicles 16:12[notes5] ) He has lessons for us in it. He is fixing those truths in our heart so we will react differently next time. This is a statute of God. If we will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD our God, and do what is right in his eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep His statutes, we won’t be afflicted like the world. He will be the LORD our healer until the day we totally healed and sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb before the throne of God. (Revelation 21:4[notes6] )

8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.

[notes2] John 7:37 (ESV)

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

[notes3] Psalm 119:75 (ESV)

75 I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

[notes4] John 9:2-3 (ESV)

2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

[notes5] 1 Chronicles 16:12 (ESV)

12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered,

[notes6] Revelation 21:4 (ESV)

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

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