Week of January 30

Jesus taught His disciples that our Heavenly Father, who loves us much more than any earthly parent does, will not toy with us but give us what we need (Matthew 7:9). Our focal passage today seems to contradict those words and may leave some people scratching their heads wondering what God was doing to Israel.

The people were parched, and God gives them a principle for living under His leadership. This was a hard lesson to swallow—especially when they were dying of thirst. We’ve all experienced trials where we begged God to relieve us of our burdens, but either heaven was seemingly silent, or we received a sermon that we hardly wanted to hear. Let’s dive into this passage and see what the Lord has for us in our own testing times.

The Israelites are in a rugged and sparsely populated wilderness area in the northern Sinai (Exodus 15:22). The closest I have ever come to the location of this event were the maps in my Sunday School class when I was a boy, but Bible scholars write that the area presently incorporates the Eastern side of the Suez Canal to the Negev of Israel (NAC).

On the one hand, the Israelites were free because they had passed beyond the outer edge of Egyptian fortifications. On the other hand, there were no Buc-ee’s rest stops anywhere in sight. OK, I slipped that one in, but the point is they had emerged from the Red Sea into a desert area and over one million people needed a drink of water. We may say, however, that this was a “test stop.” God seizes the physical moment to make a spiritual point.

We should notice the timing of this event. It took place prior to the giving of the law at Sinai. God teaches Israel a creation law for life that has been in place since He spoke and fashioned the heavens and the earth. In other words, this is a foundational principle to live successfully in His world. I’ll go ahead and ask it, though, since you (and I) are questioning God’s timing. What on earth does this have to do with water?

Water was the catalyst but the trial was about trust. They were doing everything that they knew humanly to do to survive. One assumes that they were following an ancient caravan route that was well known and traversable if one had ample supplies of water. They were emptying their skins of water, no doubt making sure that their animals and little ones were hydrated. They were not delirious with thirst because they arrive at Marah (lit. “Bitter”) and found water that had every appearance of being satisfying, but they discovered that it had a bitter taste, probably due to mineral salts that rendered it undrinkable (NAC).

The point here is that it is only the third day of the journey, and they were already doubting the Lord! They showed immediately their bitter attitude by grumbling against Moses. Marah became a test of faith (and will?), where the real issue was for whom were they thirsting (Matthew 4:4, “man shall not live by bread [cf. water] alone”)? Bottom line: they did not have what they expected, and they did not trust God to provide it (read 15:27!).

Moses follows God’s command and tosses a tree into the waters (15:25). God miraculously turns the bitter into sweet and the moment to pass the test is upon them. In other words, “taste and see that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3). The Lord says that if the Israelites will listen to His voice and practice that which is right, and pay attention to and keep all His statutes, then they will experience well-being unlike the stubborn and unrepentant Egyptians (cf. 7:14-24; see again 15:27).

A witness to a bygone era is the making of heavy wooden wagon wheels. I recently watched a fascinating video where a man used heavy equipment to bend a 68” x 2 ¼” beam of lumber into a heavy wagon wheel. The wood was steamed under high pressure for 1 hour per inch of thickness. Two-and-one-quarter hours later the wood emerged from the steamer. There was no hurry because the lumber holds the heat and remains pliable for a considerable length of time. If the wood was left unheated, then it would lead to cracking and splitting. The retention of heat enables it to be bent under pressure around a form to the shape needed for a round wheel.

Israel was not in a steamer, but they were in a hot wilderness. God was forming those people into the desired shape, even though they were letting off steam under the pressure of their sojourn! Here is the point for us: They were in no danger of breaking because God was a master at shaping lives under the heat of a trial to fit His will.

Here are some theological considerations from our passage. First, God supplied water not because the people murmured but because He is merciful (cf. Exodus 15:26, “I am your healer”)! This event was not about physical plagues as much as it was about soul-sickness from sin and death (15:26). God’s children were given no promise of perfect health and a life of ease. Moses makes the point that God was the one to turn to for the ultimate sickness that came as a result of sin (cf. Numbers 21:1-9).

Secondly, the truth about trials is that they often come in bundles. Israel miraculously crosses the Red Sea only to come emotionally and spiritually unwound at a bitter spring. We may say that Israel got its “sea legs” at the Red Sea but still had to learn how to walk on dry land under the Lord’s direction. God makes it simple: the rule is to follow His rules/principles with sincere faith, and He will show the way and provide for the journey. God will protect and preserve us (Proverbs 3:5-6; He will straighten your paths).

Thirdly, testing times serve to imprint upon our lives important truths about walking daily with God. Consider that Marah was a place to drink, but not the place to plant their roots (read, one more time, 15:27, and remember that Canaan was for putting down their roots). By the way, Marah was a place to drink but not the spot to satisfy fully one’s thirst or to encamp, either! Elim was the place that God was guiding them, with its twelve springs and abundant shade (Exodus 15:27). Not every trial is about rebellion and sin, but every trial presents an opportunity to trust and obey.

1. Write down your most recent trials and record your response to them. First, has your response been to murmur against God? Instead, decide today to trust God in your trial(s). He cares and provides for you. Keep in mind what George Müller once said, “to learn strong faith is to endure great trials.” Secondly, have you been settling, so to speak, for the bitter waters at Marah and missing the springs at Elim because you have been unwilling to wait on God? Notice that the path is made straight (Proverbs 3:5-6) when we walk it “straight-ly” (uprightly).

2. For Families: Have your children ever set up to whine when you asked them to do something for you? Clean their rooms? Rake the leaves? Clean out the garage?The next time this happens, you have a ready-made story to share. Sit your kids down in a circle and tell them all about how God was leading His people forward toward the Promised Land, and they griped and whined and grumbled about how the water tasted. They had poor attitudes toward God and their leader, Moses. God, out of His mercy, told Moses to make the water sweet, which he did, and then led the people forward.

After telling the story, encourage your children to gripe loudly, whine, complain, and grumble about having to do their chores. Give them five minutes to really let go! Make it loud and dramatic! When their five minutes are up, have them complete their tasks and then serve lemonade for a treat (always better with a little sweetener in it!). The lesson? God loves us and wants to guide us in His ways. We can trust His leadership.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock