When I cannot walk ON water, I walk through it. God divides it, makes a path and I walk it out. God did it for Elijah and Elisha so why couldn’t He do it for us? He has, He is, let’s go…
We all remember that God parted the sea for Moses and they walked right on through safely.
What about the story about God parting the water for Elijah and Elisha, once together, then for Elisha again?
While in the depths of chronic illness, drowning from the consequences of illness, we are not capable of parting the waters ourselves. We need God. We need His power and might to make the path for us, and He does.
As I look back on 5 decades of chronic illness and the last of it, the 7 years of deathbed misery, I can clearly see when the waters were parted for me to pass through into the next stage of healing and wellness. Way beyond my human powers to accomplish.
But you better believe that when the waters were parted, I walked through!! I did not sit still during those moments, I ran with it.
I ran along the path until I would hit the next obstacle I could not overcome. Then I rested…
I rested in peace. Well, okay so honestly not every single moment of resting was peaceful. But it sure was more peaceful than it used to be. We are after progress, not perfection. Walking with the Lord is a growth experience, taking one step at a time while we learn to trust, have faith, and believe wholeheartedly.
Although I wanted to get on with things, the Lord knew when my poor physical body needed more rest, more time for quiet healing. My tattered emotions still needed to heal the raw exposed nerve endings so that I could move to the next stage.
My heart had been broken from life, the physical consequences were almost deadly, but with time they would heal. I had to accept the time of resting so that when the Lord chose to part the waters again for me, create an open safe path, I could sprint again.
Time and time again the waters were split open just long enough to catapult me forward, get me down the road just a bit further on the correct healing path.
It did not all happen all at once. It came in sprints and time for resting, over and over, each time with clear progression.
Today my scripture reading included Elijah and Elisha walking through the parted waters, walking down the path that God created. These paths are very specific and spectacular for each of us. No two paths will be the same.
It reminds me to be more patient and compassionate with others walking out their walks with the Lord. No two walks are the same. I need to choose to come alongside others, help them to see the provision that God offers, be a life-vest when appropriate, and always point them toward the Lord, our true Savior.
The 7 years of misery from intense chronic illness is over. May I never forget so that I have compassion for others walking out of their illnesses. May I clearly remember that it was the Lord who parted the waters, making a safe path out. Sure, I had to choose to walk it out with my own two feet but without the path, there would have been nowhere to go with deadly health.
God always provides. He always delivers provision for His will for our lives. For me, the clue was to see that His will is to glorify Him. Use me Lord!!!!
7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
13 Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
2 Kings 2:7-14 NIV