2016 has already turned into a bitter year for some I know. Pain. Betrayal. Theft. Sickness. We are not even two full weeks into the new year and many people could say, like Israel in the Shur desert, this tastes bitter. These circumstances are harsh to the taste, unpleasant, and distressing.
I sit here contemplating this truth this morning. I've had my Marah experiences. Brenda and I have known the bitterness of life. It began early with two alcoholic fathers and the pain they inflicted. We both grew up in tough economic conditions. After getting married we learned first hand life in ministry is no fairly tale. We have experienced the highest joys imaginable in different churches with God's people. We have also experienced the bitter Marah of church members over the years. We have been criticized, slandered, betrayed, and deceived by church members we once trusted. Those were bitter experiences. We have served in churches where they thought they could starve us out by withholding their tithes and offerings. Those people disliked us much they did not care if Taylor, Brenda and I were provided for. God did though.
In the middle of all of it God used those times to test us. What those people, that wanted to starve us out of their church, did not know is God used that time to remind us HE IS OUR PROVIDER. We learned to trust Him. In the harshness of bitter economic times we learned to trust Him. God taught us to pray and strengthened our faith in the laboratory of life.
Everybody goes through some Marah experiences where life is bitter. Just don't let those bitter experiences make you bitter against God.
I am here to report our God leads people through bitter experiences. There is hope on the other side. God might lead you into some bitter experiences to test you. He also leads THROUGH bitter experiences. Hope lies on the other side. There is an Elim. Elim is the place Israel camped after Marah where the waters were bitter to the taste in Ex 15:22-27. Elim had 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees.
12 represents the power and authority of God. Remember the 12 baskets of leftovers when Jesus worked the miracle of feeding the 5,0000 with a little boy's sack lunch. In the middle of a desert Elim was an oasis of God's abundant provision. The number 70 represents God's perfection and completeness. Elim provided shade from the heat and water for drinking and refreshing. Praise God for the Elims on the other side of Marah!
The ultimate Elim is heaven. I long for that Elim. The provision, the rest, the relief, the joy, the pleasures are unending, eternal and forever there. Here and now there is Elim in God's presence and seasons of rest and refreshing in Him.
When you experience the bitterness of Marah please know God also has an Elim. That is truth worth holding onto in 2016.
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