It had been only three days since they’d walked through the waters. Just 72 hours since they’d participated in God’s awesome deliverance from the last ditch attempt by the Egyptians to take them back into bondage. Less than a week since they had been singing and dancing and declaring, “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation” (Ex. 15:11-13). If that had been Sunday, today was Wednesday . . . and today they were thirsty . . . there was no water to drink . . . and so they complained . . . they grumbled . . . and they murmured.

The “buzz” of walking through the parted sea and witnessing the mighty hand of God had worn off . . . the “high” of worshiping and singing and declaring, “The Lord is my strength and song” (15:2) had been replaced by parched lips and a dry tongue. And I’m not judging these people of God . . . not saying, “How could they?” In fact, they really are a mirror, aren’t they? I know what it is to have a Sunday like they had . . . to be in the presence of God . . . to sing, to worship, to feed deeply on the sermon . . . to teach the word of God to my Sunday School class . . . to have enjoyed sweet fellowship at home Bible study . . . and then find myself on Wednesday (or sooner) having lost that eternal perspective . . . doing life from a horizontal view only . . . getting a bit crabby . . . starting to develop a murmur about way too many things. Oh, how quickly the glory can fade . . how soon the daily grind can take off the shine. Cue Jehovah Rapha!

It’s right here . . . on Wednesday . . . that God wants to meet again with His people. He met with the Israelites and met their need, giving Moses a hunk of wood to throw into the bitter waters, making them sweet to drink. And, as He meets their need He decides this is a good time to test them (15:25). And so He gives them a principle . . . an ordinance . . . a tenet from “Walking with God 101”: “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” (Ex. 16:26).

I don’t think God is threatening His people. Rather, I think He’s saying that the passionate pursuit of the things of God . . . that the determination to live obedient to His word . . . results in knowing Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. Should they choose not to seek Him, to follow Him, to know Him, then, just as with the Egyptians, He would make himself known through suffering, that they might return to Him and bow the knee. But that was “plan B”. “Plan A” was that they would heed His voice . . . and the assurance was that when they sought Him with all their heart, though they might find themselves before bitter waters, they would know Jehovah Rapha . . . they would know “God your healer.”

Jehovah Rapha . . . God is our healer. We know that healing best when we are in relationship with Him . . . when we are seeking His face . . . following His word . . . desiring His kingdom. And, it’s not really the physical healing that I’m thinking about . . . but the inner patching up of the soul. That malady that affects me when I find myself at the waters of Marah, those waters of bitterness. When the high of Sunday wears off and all I can focus on is the thirst of Wednesday. When rather than using my dry tongue to continue to praise God, I instead find myself using it to complain against Him. Maybe not against Him directly, but complain against Him nevertheless as I murmur about how tough this is . . . or how bad that’s going . . . choosing to ignore that He is just as much the God of Wednesday as He is the God of Sunday. Choosing to focus on my hardship rather than on Jehovah Rapha.

But, should I choose to look to Him, even when encountering bitter waters . . . and trust Him . . . and renew my determination to follow Him and praise Him, even with parched lips . . . its then, that Jehovah Rapha can turn the waters sweet . . . can quench the thirst . . . can, without changing the circumstance, satisfy and heal the soul. Yes, I can rejoice . . . even on Wednesday . . . in the God who heals. I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously! The LORD is my strength and song . . . all week long! He is Jehovah Rapha . . . the God that healeth thee! Amen!