The Israelites had just walked between the walls of the water of the Red Sea and watched as the Lord washed away the whole Egyptian army. They sang a song of triumph on the far shore of the sea, rejoicing in the fear that had fallen on the surrounding nations (Ex. 15:14-16) and looking forward to taking possession of the Promised Land in the near future (Ex. 15:17). But within three days they raised a very different kind of sound\u2014a chorus of grumbling against Moses because there was no water to drink at Marah (Ex. 15:22-26).<\/p>\n
I wonder what they expected would happen after the Red Sea. A straight, unhindered journey to the land flowing with milk and honey? Instead the first thing the Lord does is to lead his people to the undrinkable water of Marah. There is no question that the Lord is the one who led them there\u2014it is easy enough to take a wrong turn when you are following Google Maps, but not when you are following a towering pillar of cloud or fire!<\/p>\n
So why did God lead Israel to Marah? Is it because he is sadistic and cruel and takes delight in watching his people suffer dehydration and fear? Is it because he is really bad at geography? Of course not!<\/p>\n
In fact we\u2019re told why he brought Israel to Marah in Ex. 15:25: There the Lord tested them. <\/em>In fact, the whole wilderness is a place of testing. That\u2019s the significance of the wilderness\u2014it\u2019s a hard place. Deuteronomy 8:15 calls it \u2018the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions.\u2019 God is training his infant son to trust him\u2014and training is always painful. There are no short cuts, whether in the physical training of our bodies to make them stronger and faster, or in the mental training of our minds to increase our knowledge and understanding, or in the spiritual training of our souls to grow in godliness.<\/p>\n Learning to trust God is not something we can do lounging on the sofa. It means being put into situations that are stressful, confusing, messy and complicated, when we don\u2019t understand what is going on or see any answers. Anyone can trust God when things are easy; the real test is if you will trust God when things are tough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israel\u2019s failure<\/strong><\/p>\n Marah was Israel\u2019s first test and they failed. They have been travelling for three days and haven\u2019t found any water. Supplies are running low. Perhaps as they saw the waters of Marah in the distance they finished up their last reserves: \u2018It\u2019ll be OK\u2014we can refill very soon!\u2019<\/p>\n Imagine the relief and joy as the first to reach Marah fall down and scoop the water to their mouths. And imagine them spitting it out as they discover it is foul and undrinkable. They\u2019re not just disappointed\u2014they\u2019re horrified<\/em>. Panic seizes them. \u2018What shall we drink?\u2019 (v. 24) This is not like someone in a restaurant complaining that their steak is a bit on the tough side or that the soup is a tad cold. They are exhausted and dehydrated and they can\u2019t see any way of getting water. Suddenly life is hanging by a thread.<\/p>\n There is nothing unreasonable about their concern. That is not why they fail the test. They fail the test because of their attitude. They grumble: the word means \u2018hostile complaining, verbal attacks of dissatisfied people.\u2019<\/p>\n Why do they grumble? There are at least two reasons:<\/p>\n Faithlessness<\/u>.<\/strong> They do not trust God. They don\u2019t trust his power (that he can take care of them) or his goodness (that he wants to take care of them). They should have gone to the Lord with their needs, humbly asking him to provide what they needed. And this lack of faith was due to\u2026<\/p>\n Forgetfulness<\/u>.<\/strong> This is the diagnosis of Psalm 78:40ff: How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! \u2026 They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe<\/u>, 43<\/sup> when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.<\/em> The people had such short memories! It has only been three days since they walked through the Red Sea! It has been just a few weeks since they witnessed the ten plagues and the Passover! They can see the Lord going before them in a pillar of cloud and fire. But fear and thirst have driven all the Lord has done for them so far out of their minds. All they can think about is their problem\u2014their terrible thirst.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s failure is a warning for us, as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 10:6\u201311. Talking about Israel in the wilderness Paul says \u2026These things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did\u2026 they were written down for our instruction.<\/em> Of all the sins Israel committed in the wilderness, Paul specifically picks out grumbling in v. 10: [we must not] grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.<\/em> This is a warning<\/u> to instruct us today.<\/p>\n This world, this life is our wilderness\u2014our training ground for faith and godliness. As long as we are here God is making us holy through testing.<\/p>\n So we need to beware of a grumbling spirit in the wilderness. Hard things will happen to us. They will not make sense to us. We will not be able to see why God has allowed them or what possible good could ever come out of them. It is going to look like the Lord is not able or willing to provide what we need. Even though we are following where he leads, there will be times when it will feel like he has abandoned us.<\/p>\n How thankful we should be for a Saviour who has come into the wilderness of this world to live a perfect life of faith in our place, who never once grumbled in word or thought, even when he faced the worst suffering imaginable. On the cross he rasped the words \u2018I thirst\u2019 as he endured the most bitter cup of God\u2019s wrath for us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n God\u2019s Grace<\/strong><\/p>\n How patient the Lord is with his people! He shows Moses a tree (v. 25), which makes the bitter water sweet. The tree is just the symbol that the Lord is doing it (just like the staff in Moses\u2019 hand throughout the plagues and at the Red Sea).<\/p>\n So God turns the bitter water into sweet water. It is an illustration of what the Lord says in v. 26: I am the Lord, your healer. <\/em>This first test in the wilderness is a picture of what God continually does for his people\u2014he makes bitter things sweet.<\/p>\n The Exodus itself is a picture of this: bitter slavery in Pharaoh\u2019s service becomes sweet freedom in God\u2019s service. You could not ask for a better description of our salvation than this: the Lord our Healer brings us from the bitterness of death into the sweetness of life to full. He comes to us in the bitterness of our sin and misery and transforms it into the sweetness of forgiveness, a clean conscience, his love and his presence.<\/p>\n In v. 26 God calls his people to listen diligently to the voice of the Lord and to do what is right in his eyes. As we obey that we experience the sweetness of his blessing. When we sin we make life bitter for ourselves\u2014we suffer the pain of a guilty conscience, we bring all kinds of harmful consequences on ourselves and others, we spoil our fellowship with God. But miraculously, graciously, the Lord our Healer can turn even the bitterness of our sin and backsliding into sweetness again.<\/p>\n And he is so powerful and so gracious that the Lord our Healer is even able to take our most bitter sufferings and turn them into sweet blessings.<\/p>\n Rom 8:28: \u2026we know that for those who love God all things work together for good\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n 2 Cor. 4:17: For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Can\u2019t you say that, as you look back even on the hardest times of you life? That the Lord took what was bitter and made it sweet? Joseph could: he was able to look back on the many bitter afflictions he had to endure over thirty years and conclude that God meant it for good (Gen. 50:20).<\/p>\n We see a far greater Marah above all in the cross of Jesus Christ. Here was the most bitter thing in the history of the universe: the Son of God nailed to a tree by the hands of wicked men. But the Lord our Healer took that tree and through it brought an infinity and eternity of the sweetest blessing to the world!<\/p>\n Believe this<\/u><\/em> \u2013 hold onto this by faith. Trust the Lord. Call to mind all his acts of power and grace in the past, so that you may be kept from bitter grumbling when difficulties come in the future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The preceding article by Warren Peel, pastor at Covenant Christian Fellowship, Galway, Ireland and Banner Trustee, first appeared on Gentle Reformation<\/a>, and is posted here with his permission.<\/p>\n Featured Photo (visible when article shared online) by Youhana Nassif<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Israelites had just walked between the walls of the water of the Red Sea and watched as the Lord washed away the whole Egyptian army. They sang a song of triumph on the far shore of the sea, rejoicing in the fear that had fallen on the surrounding nations (Ex. 15:14-16) and looking forward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65473,"featured_media":298929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"resource-author":[19437],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-298928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","resource-author-warren-peel"],"yoast_head":"\n