The Names of God
08/12/2001 - Jehovah Rophi, "The Lord Who Heals"
Have you ever noticed that life is full of ups and downs? The highway of life isn't a straight shot. It's a long and winding road. It takes us up tall mountains, it catapults us down into deep valleys, it moves us along boring, endless straight aways, it takes us over bumpy, irritating Pennsylvania potholes, and around tight hairpin curves, and sometimes the ride can be so rough that we end up in a ditch somewhere wondering, "What happened?" "Why me?" "Why now?" "Where's God?" And if we're not careful those ditches can fill us with a lot of anger and bitterness that can last a long, long time.
Sometimes those ditches are physical ones. We're not feeling quite right, we're more tired and irritable than usual. "But it'll pass," we think. "A couple of good night's sleeps and we'll be all right." But it doesn't pass and we're not all right. And so we finally go to the doctor, and have some tests done, and when the results come back we're called into the office and told that the news isn't good. We have a serious health problem. That's a ditch.
Sometimes those ditches are financial ones. We're doing okay, we're not getting rich, but we're not going broke either. Then the air conditioner breaks down and the car needs $2,000 worth of work and we get a letter from the IRS saying that we owe back taxes from 1997. That's a pretty sharp curve and all of a sudden we're in a financial ditch.
Sometimes those ditches are vocational ones. We show up for work one day and we're told that the company has been bought out and we'd better start looking for work because in a month or so we're going to be downsized. "Look for work? But I'm just getting comfortable in this job." "Sorry, that's life!" we're told. Ouch!
Sometimes those ditches are relational ones. There are a lot of those ditches in life. We can fall into a ditch early on, growing up in a home where we're ignored or mistreated or abused. Or going to a school where we're teased and picked on. Or experiencing a falling out with a close friend or a family member. Or being dumped by a girlfriend or boyfriend. Or ending up in a divorce or the victim of a divorce. All those relational ditches can leave us pretty beat up along the side of life's road.
And sometimes those ditches are just flat out tragic. Like the one that happened to a man I know who this time last summer was sitting at home watching the 6 o'clock evening news when he saw the report of a horrendous car accident on Roosevelt Boulevard that claimed the life of three people. The car they showed was a mangled mess. And he thought to himself, "What a shame." Until an hour or so later he got a phone call and discovered that two of the women who were killed were his wife and his daughter. What was a shame was now a tragedy.
Life is full of all kinds of ups and downs. And things can change real fast. And if we're not careful we can get angry and bitter and depressed and find ourselves a long, long way from God when we need him the most. And if we don't turn to God to help us deal with our bitterness, the temptation is to turn to something else that will help us deaden the pain, but won't help us get out of the ditch.
Life was full of ups and downs for the children of Israel. They had some real "high highs" and some real "low lows" in their walk with God and we're going to see that in a classic story today as we continue our series called The Names of God. So far we've discovered God to be El Elyon, "God Most High, creator of heaven and earth," El Shaddai, "God Almighty, able to keep his promises," and Jehovah Jireh, "The Lord who Provides." And now today we want to see that our God is Jehovah Rophi, "The Lord Who Heals You."
Turn to Exodus 14. In Exodus 14 we join 1.5 million Israelites frozen with fear on the banks of the Red Sea. Up until now in this series we've been looking at the life of Abraham who lived about 2,000 years before Christ. God had promised that a great nation would come through Abraham. And after waiting 25 years that promise was finally fulfilled when Abraham and Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
Now fast-forward about 500 years. Out of that one son, Isaac, a nation of over 1.5 million people had grown, the nation of Israel. And for the past 400 years they had been living in bondage to the Egyptians. They had not been enjoying the Promised Land. They were on one of those long, boring, endless straight aways of life, where it seemed like God had died. But now all that was about to change. God was going take them across raging waters and up high mountains and through deep valleys and around sharp curves that they had never seen before. So they'd better hang on to him. And to do it, God raised up a deliverer to lead his people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. And his name was Moses.
And after bringing Pharaoh to his knees with ten devastating plagues, each one designed to display the power of El Elyon, each one targeted to make a mockery of ten of Egypt's gods, Moses leads his people out of Egypt, to the very edge of the roaring Red Sea. In front of them is a wall of water and behind them is the Egyptian army in hot pursuit, closing fast. Their hearts are racing, their palms are sweating, what are they going to do? If they move ahead they'll be drowned. If they turn back they'll be butchered. God help?! Let's read the story.
Look at Exodus 14:10-18, As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.
Drop down to verse 21, Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt."
Verse 26, Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen-the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
That's the story of the Exodus out of Egypt, a miracle of God that is used throughout the rest of the Bible as the supreme example of the power of God, even more so than the universal flood of Noah or the power of God demonstrated at creation.
That's a mountain top spiritual experience! If you're an Israelite, it just doesn't get any better than that. Seeing the power of God expressed in that way would keep you following the Lord for the rest of your life wouldn't it? I mean, if God can do that, he can do anything! "When times get tough I'll never forget when God rolled back the Red Sea. I'll always trust him. I'll never turn away." Right?
There are times in our walk with God when he does dramatic things, when his presence is so real to us, when we hear his voice so clearly. Sometimes he shows up like that in a worship gathering like this, or on a retreat, or on a mission's trip, or when we're with our small group or talking with a close friend, or when we're in solitude spending some time alone just with God, or when, like Moses, we're in the midst of a crisis and we need help. And when God shows up in some dramatic way we want to hold on to those times as long as we can, we want to put them in a bottle and seal them up, so they never fade away. We want to stay up on the mountaintop, because it feels so good there.
Those are the times when it seems so easy to believe and to trust God and to celebrate and to worship. Like the Israelites did in Exodus 15 when they took some time to celebrate. Look at Exodus 15:1, Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. "I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered them. They sank to the depths like a stone. And on and on they go singing God's praises!
Drop down to verse 20, Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea."
It's wonderful to live on the mountaintop! But Red Sea miracles don't happen every day. And after the road of the life takes us to the summit, it never stays there. There's no cul-de-sac at the summit. The road always goes back down the hill. And every mountain is followed, at some point, by a valley. And it didn't take long for the Israelites to hit the valley and in their case it came complete with a wall-to-wall desert.
Look at verse 22, Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah, which means "bitter.") So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Wouldn't you love to be Moses? One minute the guy's a hero and the next minute he's a jerk. Just three days after God did one of his most powerful miracles, the people are whining and complaining. First God pulled off the ten plagues, then he led Israel out of Egypt with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, then he rolled back the Red Sea and brought 1.5 million them out of bondage without a single casualty, then he completely destroyed the Egyptian army before their very eyes and now they wonder "Where's God? He's going to let us die of thirst!"
They are so much like us. It doesn't take us long after we come down from the mountain to wonder, "Where's God? Doesn't he know I've got a health crisis? Doesn't he care that I'm in a financial bind? Doesn't he know I'm going to lose my job or my marriage? Why did he let this tragedy happen to me?"
And so God brings them to the bitter waters of Marah to deal with their own bitterness. For you see the waters of Marah didn't cause the Israelites to be bitter, they just revealed the bitterness that was already in their hearts. And before God could ever make them into a holy nation, into a people who would represent him well on this earth, he had to deal with their bitterness. Before he could ever take them into the Promised Land they had to face up to it. And so when they looked into the bitter waters of Marah they were seeing a reflection of their own heart.
Years and years of bondage in the hot furnace of Egypt had made them angry and bitter towards God. They didn't trust him and they didn't trust Moses his servant. Life hadn't gone well for them there. God had disappointed them. He had let them down big time. He had put them in ditch for a lot of years and their hearts were filled with bitterness and fear and unbelief. They needed to be healed.
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, verse 25, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his 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 Jehovah Rophi, the Lord who heals you." Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
Moses cries out to the Lord and God has him throw a piece of wood into the water to make it sweet. What's that about? After all, God had rolled back the Red Sea, couldn't he just say the word and the water would turn sweet? Absolutely, but he didn't. He wanted Moses to throw in a piece of wood. There was nothing magical about that piece of wood. Instead it was meant to be a symbol of another piece of wood that would one day take away the bitterness of sin and open up the sweet waters of eternal life. And that piece of wood was the cross on which Jesus died to set us free from bitterness and to heal our soul. Jehovah Rophi, I am the Lord who heals you.
God will never be able to take us to the Promised Land, to the land of milk and honey, to the land of abundant living until he has healed our bitterness. Just like he had to deal with Israel so he has to deal with us. Do you need to be healed this morning? Maybe you don't. Maybe you've already experienced God as Jehovah Rophi. I'm sure many of you have. You know what it means to be set free.
But if you haven't, God wants to heal you. What ditch has caused you to be angry and bitter? Where are you disappointed with God? He wants to turn the bitter water of our hearts, sweet again. How does he do it? How does God heal us of our bitterness? I think the key is found in verse 26, If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his 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 Jehovah Rophi, the Lord who heals you.
Listen to the voice of God and obey him. What are some of things God says to us when are hearts are bitter? First, he whispers, "Talk to me. Tell me about it. Don't tune me out. Don't shut me off. Don't run away. Don't pretend every thing's okay between us."
Be honest with God. Tell him how you're feeling. Tell him that you feel let down, disappointed, hurt, angry. Ditch the pious platitudes and be gut level honest with God. Go to a quiet place, deep in the woods if you have to, where you can scream at him, if that's what you need to do. He can handle it. He'd rather have you be honest with him than to play religious games. Moses cried out to the Lord.
Second, confess your sin. James 5:16 says, Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
God whispers, "Tell your wife how you're feeling. Tell your husband how you're feeling. Tell your friend, your pastor, your counselor, your small group. Tell somebody what's going on in your heart. Don't carry it around by yourself." This is the tougher of the two steps. But there will be no healing without it. Confess and pray so that you may be healed.
Third, receive and give forgiveness. And that order is important. First you must receive God's forgiveness and then you can give it out to the one who's hurt you. Colossians 3:13 says, Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
God whispers, "Receive my forgiveness and then be generous in giving it out freely to others."
Like the Israelites, God wants to lead us into the Promised Land of abundant living. But he can't do it if our hearts are bitter. So he brings us to the waters of Marah and reveals himself to us as Jehovah Rophi, "the Lord who heals you." Accept his healing and head for the Promised Land.