I’ve been disappointed a lot lately. I mean, I’d probably need four hands to count off each and every disappointment I’ve experienced in the last few months. Even the things I’ve never had a problem with were crumbling and failing right in front of me. I was afraid to even hope for anything because it was just going to be another let down.
My prayer life suffered for it. Why pray when nothing was happening, or better still, the complete opposite of what you wanted was happening? I couldn’t understand why God was allowing me to feel all of this pain for these things I was hoping so hard for. He’s God, he could stop it, right? There were certain days I even looked up at the sky and said, “Really? Anything else? Are we done yet?’
My desperation led me to study disappointment. I know I’m not the only one with disappointments. It’s shocking to find so many resources on the subject, but I wasn’t looking for a pep talk. I needed a fact, something real I could hold onto. I needed something that didn’t make me feel alone like I have been feeling for these past few months. Of course, I’ve always had disappointments, all my life, but these few months have been a consistant let-down, one after another and I needed to do something. I needed to realign myself somehow and plow through this with a different perspective.
Ironically, in my searching, Exodus 15:22-27 popped up.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. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbledagainst Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” 25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, 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. 26 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 LORD, who heals you.” 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
It’s a story I know well from growing up in church but after reading it again I still came up empty. Obviously, the Israelites were disappointed too and thirsty, walking around for three days with no water, they finally find some and they can’t drink it. But something told me to research the meaning of the wood. Like, why did God tell Moses to throw wood in the water? Why not sand? They were in a desert so there was plenty of it.
When I read it again I realized it was a piece of wood that was not connected to anything. Essentially, it was dead. It once had life in it but, for whatever reason, it was disconnected from its life source and died. It had no more purpose, it was empty and alone. Kinda like how I’ve been feeling lately. Wood, in the Bible, also symbolizes human nature because it’s corruptible when removed from its life source and exposed to the elements.
Now Moses throws this dead wood on the bitter water. But why was the water bitter? Bitter translated actually means salty. So the water was like ocean water, undrinkable but capable of life. For whatever reason, this small body of water may have been a part of the Dead Sea or an off-shoot of a great body of water but was now alone in the wilderness. You couldn’t consume the water, but there was still potential there. Water is also, throughout the Bible, symbolic of God and His word. He is referenced as “the Water of Life” in Revelation 22:17.
So this dead situation is now thrown into the water of life and it becomes sweet, or drinkable. But that’s not even the best part of the story…
Later, after traveling 1 more day, they reach an oasis in the desert called Elim where there are 12 springs of fresh water and seventy palm trees! You’d think the sweet water was enough, but they get a double blessing. They journeyed for 3 days of suffering with no water at all, find bitter water on the fourth day that God turns sweet and on the fifth day reach a paradise. Now there’s two schools of thought here: 1. If the Isrealites would have just been patient and didn’t start complaining they would have eventually reached Elim and had their fill of water. 2. God gave them double (two days) of blessing for their suffering.
It doesn’t really matter, though, because I finally have my answer.
There’s still air in my lungs and blood in my veins. I still have potential. I may be surrounded with a bunch of dead situations, but if I can just throw it all on the water and wait, God does see it and he can do something with it. He can turn the sour into sweet if I just keep moving forward. The Israelites would have never had the double blessing if they turned around and went back to where they came from to get water. They had to keep going forward, in spite of the setbacks. In spite of the failures they had to keep going. God wasn’t against them, he was ahead of them the whole way leading them to the places that were prepared so he could show his power and love.
So today, if I get another disappointment, I’ll use it as another mile marker and keep going forward until I get to my blessings and thank God for how far I’ve come.
Below is a picture of Elim:
Becoming Invincible 