Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Most of us probably live in a part of the world where fresh, pure drinking water is available without much effort. Some of you may have your own water well or share a well with your community. Many of you probably receive water provided by the city in which you live. Few if any of us feel our water is undrinkable or unsafe.
Join me again back in the town of Jericho, about 850bc, with the prophet Elisha who is in the first few days without Elijah, his mentor, who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind! (2 Kings 2:11)
Yesterday we watched as some people from Jericho came to the prophet Elisha with a water problem. Evidently there was at least one spring which spewed out bitter, rancid water, unfit to drink or even irrigate their gardens. Of course Elisha was not a water engineer nor did he have any training in finding or fixing water problems, as least as far as I know. We have no record Elijah had ever trained Elisha in how to address rancid water problems.
Elisha was, however, recognized by the people as a man of God. And now with Elijah gone, perhaps Elisha was viewed as the new spiritual leader to whom people felt it appropriate to bring their problems which they felt only God could solve.
Perhaps Elisha prayed, perhaps Elisha received a word of instruction from the Holy Spirit of God which is not referenced in the 2 Kings 2:19-22 account. The record simply tells us Elisha asked for a new bowl and put salt in the bowl. “Then Elisha went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’ And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.”
Did you notice Elisha was careful and clear to tell the people it was the God of Israel who was transforming this spring from bitter to fresh water? Do you notice God intended it to be a permanent transformation not simply temporary. Elisha took no credit for this miracle, but evidently Elisha did exactly what the Holy Spirit of God instructed him to do and Jericho received pure water!
Does that remind you of another time God turned bitter water into sweet, pure water? It happened almost 600 years before Elisha’s water miracle and I find that story in Exodus 15:22-27. Moses was leading the Hebrew slaves out of their Egyptian slavery. They’d just come through the Red Sea water tunnel God had miraculously created and after three days of hiking in the desert toward Mt Sinai, their water supply had run out. More than 1 million people and their animals were thirsty, very thirsty, with nothing but sand in all directions!
Suddenly as they came over a sand dune they spotted a lake of water and with great excitement they rushed forward splashing water into their mouths and then quickly spitting it out, for it was bitter, undrinkable water! They probably didn’t know it but that lake had a name… Marah, which means bitter! The people cried out to Moses and he cried out to God. The Spirit of God directed Moses’ gaze to an old, dried up chunk of tree branch in the sand and evidently the Spirit of God directed Moses to throw that piece of tree branch into the lake.
Perhaps the tree branch was so big that Moses asked another man or two to help him throw it into the lake. As they watched the water ripples flatten out so the lake was calm again, nothing appeared to have changed. But when someone reached down into the water and pulled a handful to their mouth, they discovered the water was now sweet, pure and delicious! Word spread quickly and 1 million people and their animals quenched their desert thirst at this miraculously changed lake!
God took the opportunity to give Moses a wonderful message for the people and declare a new name for Himself at this Marah lake: ‘”If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to God’s 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.” [Jehovah Rapha] (Exodus 15:26)
I’m confident Elisha knew that miraculous story well, and perhaps he even retold that story to the people of Jericho as they excitedly drew pure water out of the spring which had been rancid! What Elisha didn’t know was that one day, about 850 years after this miracle water day in Jericho, a man named Jesus Christ would walk into this town Jericho and a blind man named Bartimaeus would miraculously receive his sight as he met Jesus and Jesus simply said these words to him: “your faith has healed you.” (Mark 10:46-52) Also in that town of Jericho on that day, another man named Zacchaeus, a short tax collector, would have lunch with Jesus and his life would be forever changed! (Luke 19:1-9)
Now friends, let’s put all those miracles together. Is it possible the Holy Spirit helped Moses find a tree branch in the sand which when he obediently threw it into the bitter lake turned the water sweet as a picture of what would happen when Jesus, the Son of God, would be nailed to a cross and give His life so any person could be set free from the bitter sin bondage we live in?
Is it possible Bartimaeus receiving his sight from the miracle working power of Jesus is a picture of how your sight and mine can be made clear so we see the evidence of God at work in our world, and in our lives clearly; and recognize God’s TRUTH in a confused, truth distorting world so our trust in God can change our lives?
Is it possible Zacchaeus experiencing a total change of heart, going from a despot, greedy cheater to a repentant, generous, compassionate man is a picture of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in any person, changing them to be someone whose life honors God in all ways?
Let’s pause right here as we watch the people of Jericho celebrating fresh water pouring out of a rancid spring; and a blind man dancing for joy because he can see; and a rich cheater, handing money to those he has cheated; and let’s each consider what new, purifying work God wants to do in our lives today…and let’s ask Him, believing NOTHING is impossible for God!
And here’s a worship song that will help us celebrate what God is ready to do in your life and mine today, and I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow…
Today’s Scriptures: 2 Kings 2:19-11 & Exodus 15:22-27.
Choose below to read or listen.
2 Kings 2:19-11
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Exodus 15:22-27
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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