Ladies, Ladies…All the Ladies!!

“And He said, ….for I, the Lord, am your healer.” Exodus 15:26

Day 1

This week we are learning about our God who heals.  God reveals this name soon after the parting of the Red Sea and His deliverance of His people out of Egypt.  Before we dive in, I would like all of us to read Exodus 15:1-21 and be reminded of our GREAT GOD!  I LOVE this passage. 

After reading Exodus 15:1-21, write out, or circle in your bible, the words describing our God.  Spend time in prayer praising the Lord for who He is and asking Him to be these things in your life.

Day 2

Read Exodus 15:22-27

1.        Why were the people grumbling at Moses?

2.       What did Moses do?

3.       What three things did the Lord do in response to Moses’ plea?

When the children of Israel complained to Moses, what did he do?  He “cried out to the Lord.”  I wish when my little children are grumbling and complaining the first thing I would do was cry out to the Lord.  If you are anything like me… you try to appease the best you can…. You try and reason… you try to remain calm …. And before you know it… you’ve blown your top!  That’s me.  Oh if I would just take the requests of “my people” to my great God….FIRST!  If only I would take MY OWN requests to the Lord and stop griping to my husband or friends.  I think there is a lesson here for ALL of us.

Anyway, isn’t it hard to believe that the Israelites would even begin to worry about water after the experience they had just encountered.  I mean can you imagine watching the ocean separate before your very eyes and then devouring your enemy as soon as the last member of your party stepped safely onto the other side?  I say this as though I couldn’t imagine complaining to God after such a miracle while sadly, I have fallen prey to this very thing numerous times. 

4.       Can you think of a time in your life when God really blessed you or did something really amazing for you and you still had an ungrateful attitude?

5.       Are you still living with that attitude? If so, please take some time right now to pray that the Lord will give you a thankful heart.

As you read on in verse25 you will notice that the Lord had the Israelites be thirsty as a test.  There was purpose for this “season of drought.”  The Lord had a specific message that He wanted to convey to his children.  What was that message?  Read verse 26.

I am not saying that every person suffering from disease is not walking in the Lord.  I am not saying that because our Great God has decided not to heal our loved ones that one or all of the family is not walking with the Lord.  I am not saying that every horrible or difficulty in our lives is a test.  I do know that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 1:6.  And I am confident in the fact that our Lord is more important with healing us from the inside out.  And His love is so great for us…He will go at GREAT measures to perfect that work He has started…the work He has ‘prepared beforehand.’

Pray today that the Lord will continue perfecting His work in your life. 

Read  1 Thessalonians 5:18.  Pray for a kingdom mindset when you face hardships and that you may be able to embrace this verse.

Day 3

The children of God were in the wilderness and were unable to find water.  They were thirsty.  I know in my weakness I would have been like..”Great God… you go to such links for us only to have us die of thirst…You keep us from drowning…but now we are dying of thirst.  Ummm… can I please go back to the ocean? “  I KNOW I would have been right in there in line making my complaints to Moses.  I don’t know what it is about the ‘being in the desert” that makes us forget the sovereignty of our God.  We are overwhelmed with need…overcome by our thirst and hunger….we cry out to each other and fail to address our God.

Are you thirsty right now?  Has the desert sun left you parched? 

Read John 4:7-15 and Deut. 8:3

What is the common theme of these two passages?

What is it that we need for true healing?  Is this in-line with the message God shared with His children?

Spend time today praying and drinking from His word.  Do you have any deep rooted sin or pain from your past that needs healing?  As the woman at the well ask of Jesus.. you ask, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty……”.

Day 4

This particular character of God is a very difficult one for me right now.  I have several people very close to me that are dealing with incurable illnesses.  It is hard for me to see God promise to be a healer when I am surrounded by disease.  It’s hard for me to listen to my husband (a pediatrician) talk about children dying or being diagnosed with cancer or genetic disorders and read the Lord, my God, call himself a healer when I know a handful of people…GODLY people… that he opted NOT to heal.  I think we are all learning that God is most interested in our hearts.  He most desires a healed ‘faith’ so to speak.  But I can’t help but touch a little on physical healing in speaking of Jehovah Rophe.

God has the power to Heal.  He is the mighty One.  The God who parted the sea, who sent manna from the heavens, who enabled a little boy to defeat a giant can do WHATEVER HE WANTS!  He has the power.  So what are we to do when our loved ones are suffering and He seems to have turned His back?

Read 2 Samuel 12:15-23.

1.        What did David do when his son became ill?

2.        What was David’s response after hearing the news of his son’s death?

3.        How did David explain his response?

For some reason, this passage is very comforting to me.  David prayed with all of his might, still the Lord did not heal his son physically……  And he’s DAVID for crying out loud… a man that God said was “after His own heart.”  God LOVED David.  He loves US, too!  We can pray to the Lord.  There is healing in our time with Him.  We are told to make our requests known to our Lord, but as it is said….

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, “ declares the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways.  And My thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:10

“…for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  Matthew 5:45

We may not understand the ways of the Lord and why some of those ‘ways’ bring about so much pain.  Although life is difficult in this fallen world, the Lord has not left us here alone with our pain.  Remember, He is has provided…and He not only provided for us ultimately….He heals in the process.  By embracing His pain on the cross He is able to exchange OUR pain presently for healing.….”for by his wounds we are healed.” (1 Peter 2:24).  For those of us who profess Christ, he was taken our souls and plunged them into his healing waters…we are bathed in his blood… and washed as white as snow. 

My eyes are filling with tears as I write.  I see the faces of so many loved ones I know that are hurting right now.  God is our healer.  What He does not accomplish in this time now… He will in the days to come.  This one truth is healing for me in itself.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. “ (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:3-4

“But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness.  I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying.  No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days,” Isaiah 65:18-20.

Perhaps you have just witnessed God do something as amazing as parting an ocean.  Perhaps you are in a desert.  Perhaps you are walking your way right into a desert and have absolutely no idea as of yet.  Wherever you are the Lord bids you “Come.  And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” (Rev. 22:17). 

“Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water……and they camped there beside the waters.”  Exodus 17:27.

Come and camp beside His waters.  As the Lord our God led His people THROUGH an ocean, through the desert… on to an oasis where they were given the water they needed….Our Lord is still doing this in OUR LIVES.  He wants us camped and stationed in HIM…beside the springs of life!  This is where He is bringing you.  It’s where He wants you.   His drinks are free.  His water is healing ……..for He is Jehovah Rophe—The Lord who Heals.

Spend some time today in quiet rest before the Lord.  May He pour healing water over those areas in your life that are thirsting in the desert.  Give those areas to Him.