Sep 18
23
Dry sand and deep wells
“And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore
and ten palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.” Exodus 15:27
A great wilderness lay between Israel and Canaan; a vast unfriendly,
harsh land that stretched out before them across which they could not
survive without the presence and power of God. This wilderness is in
figure a picture of this world. What they experienced physically all
believers experience spiritually. Spiritually there is nothing in this
world to sustain, nourish, or preserve the child of God. Everything he
needs must be supplied of God and come to him by sovereign irresistible
grace. It is exactly the harsh environment of this wilderness that
brings to the believer’s heart the sweet experience of grace. Elim
offers nothing to the intellectual; just palm trees and wells. Elim
offers nothing to the mystic; its waters and trees were just waters and
trees. But, oh, to the man whose tongue cleaved to the roof of his
mouth, to the sojourner whose back had been burnt under that blazing
son; to him those seventy palms and twelve wells was nearly Canaan
itself. Looking at Elim as a place of refreshing in the wilderness I see
it manifest in figure three ways.
First, I see this blessed place of rest in the wilderness represented in
Christ. “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.” (Matthew 11: 28) It is Christ himself who is our rest.
It is his blessed person that refreshes the heart and satisfies the soul.
Secondly, Elim and its refreshing wells are represented to us in this
gospel age as the local church. God’s church is the pillar and ground of
the truth. He has put them strategically so that all who journey through
this wilderness, on their way to Canaan, are sure to drink from its
wells and rest in its shade.
Thirdly, Elim is represented in our day by the regenerating, renewing,
and converting work of the Holy Spirit of God. All of the refreshing
waters of Christ are drawn up for us by his presence and power.
It is the wilderness experience that makes Elim’s water so precious.
Never till we are weary and heavy laden will we appreciate Elim’s rest.
Thank God for dry sand and deep wells. – Darvin Pruitt
Darvin Pruitt