The Lord Showed Him A Tree

Greetings, friends.
This little message is to kind of set the "stage" for what the Lord is getting ready to say and do in our lives and the life of the church.

Healing is the will of God for, I believe, everyone. He has led me to begin a "Healing School" at our church beginning this Sunday evening. Worship, prayer, praise, and, above all, teaching the will of God regarding healing for the body. "He sent His word and healed them..." "Who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases...". Luke 5 and 6 mention people coming to Jesus to "hear and be healed of their infirmities". So we'll follow the Lord's direction and see faith come by hearing the word of God. We'll see the Lord "confirm His Word with the accompanying signs".

For a moment, though, I'd like to teach a little regarding the passage below out of Exodus 15:22-26. This is right after the children of Israel left Egypt, went across the dried up Red Sea, and saw God fight for them as never before. Notice what takes place:

22. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.
24. And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?''
25. So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there He tested them,
26. and said, "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.''

A few things to notice:
1. The Lord was leading them - as Moses followed God. The Lord's direction isn't always, at first, into sweetness and plenty! No, they went 3 days into the wilderness of Shur, which means "wall". The Lord led them into a wall...just as He did a few days earlier when they were surrounded by the sea and Pharoah's chariots.
2. The "wall" represents a test. There is no TESTimony without a test. There is no answer to faith's cry without the need for faith to speak. I'm not saying that the Lord is behind everything that isn't going our way; I am saying that we must keep a sensitive spirit to be able to hear His direction and pass the test. There is always an answer to whatever test we may have. There is always a way to deal with a "wall".
3. Moses cried to the Lord, but kept his ear open to what the Lord what tell him to do. Many times we cry to the Lord. But we must make sure, along with our cries, we are able to hear what the Spirit is saying.
4. Moses cried, then the Lord "showed him a tree". Moses actually saw the "tree" (I believe a picture of the complete provision found in the cross) and then knew how to apply the revelation. I believe the way Moses "saw" the tree was through Divine revelation and in answer to the cry.
5. The paths of the Lord...no greater place to walk. Jesus said, "I am the Way (path)..." and as we walk with Him we will have opportunities to either run through a troop and leap over a wall, opportunities to be still and know He is God, or we'll see a "tree" around us that is the answer to our prayers, though it may not look like it at first.
6. I really believe the Lord would have His people now, as then, know that it isn't just a matter of knowing that God heals. I believe He wants us to know that He is the way to walk - to diligently "heed" (pay attention) to the voice of the Lord and do what is right in His sight (as He judges and inspects, as in Revelation 1-3)...

Proverbs 4:20-23 says, "My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life."

May each of us know the Lord's voice and develop a keen, sensitive spirit to be able to hear and obey in every circumstance. He said, "for I am the Lord Who heals you" after He expained to Moses that He had just tested them.

Life isn't about how many tests and trials...it is about walking with the Lord Who is the Answer to all of life's walls, bitterness, testings and trials. He IS the Lord Who heals us!

God bless,
Pastor Jan


For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5