Title: God Who Makes Life Sweeter
Contents
August 20, 2006 (35 weeks)
God who sweetens life
22 When Moses led Israel out of the Red Sea, they went out and went into the wilderness of Shur, and walked three days there, but found no water. 23 And when they came to Marah, the water was bitter and they could not drink, so they called its name Marah. 25 And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD pointed to him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made decrees and ordinances for them, and tested them. 26 He said to them, "If you listen to the word of the LORD your God, obey it, and do what is right in my eyes, and you will obey my commandments and keep all my ordinances, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases that I have brought upon the Egyptians. 27 When they came to Elim, there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and there they pitched their tents by the water (Exodus 15:22-27).
As spiritual chosen people, we too have crossed the Red Sea of sin and are now on the way to heaven, but we have to walk in the wilderness of this world. As we walk through the wilderness of the world, we are bound to face countless thirsts, diseases, privations, and sufferings. In times like these, the Lord is revealing that God will not leave us alone but will be with us and help us through these words.
First, life is written.
But what can sweeten the bitter water in this heart? Just as the water becomes sweet when Moses cuts a tree branch and throws it, when we throw the cross of Calvary into our bitter hearts, this bitter water becomes miraculously sweet. If we throw this cross, a symbol of salvation, that Jesus tore and shed His blood on Calvary, into the bitter water of our hearts, all the bitter water in our hearts will be sweetened.
Second, God heals. If you will listen to me and live righteously before me, and keep my statutes and my commandments, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I have brought upon the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals your diseases. If people who pass through the wilderness live righteously and sincerely before God and pray earnestly, the Lord will heal us with the power of the Lord. We can be healed through doctors and medicines, but if we believe in Jesus and cry out and pray, the Lord will give us health with the power of the Holy Spirit, so we can serve God with a healthy body, healthy mind and spirit, and live happily on this earth can be.
Third, there are oasis in the desert-like road of life. Deuteronomy 1:33 “He is the one who went before you, looking for a place to pitch your tent, and by night with fire and by day with a cloud to show you the way you should go.” Therefore, our God is the same God who prepares an oasis for Christians today. Psalm 107:35,36 “And he turns the wilderness into a pool, and the dry land into springs of water, and makes the hungry dwell there, to prepare a city for them to dwell.”
Today, when our believers, the spiritually chosen people, live in this wilderness-like world, God prepares an oasis for us. This oasis is nothing else, but the church is an oasis.
While passing through this wilderness-like world, the life of a believer and the life of the chosen people is to receive treatment for the heart, receive treatment for the body, set up a spiritual tabernacle in the church, and communicate with God within it. As the Bible says, if you obey the LORD your God, do what is right in my sight, and obey my commandments and keep all my ordinances, then I will not bring on you any disease that I have brought upon the Egyptians. That word, Jehovah, is fulfilled among us today. The bitter water we have since we were born becomes sweet water through the cross of Christ, and we enter and leave the church, the hospital of God, and receive treatment. I bless you in the name of the Lord that you will receive the blessing and become prosperous in your soul, prosper in all things, be strong, gain life, and lead a life of faith in abundance.