Scripture: Exodus 15:22
So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness
of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
I must admit
that I thought this a strange message to be giving this close to Christmas. I
mean if it were up to me I would be heralding in the season with a fan fare of
the angels singing Peace on earth Good Will to Men. But instead God leads me
back into the wilderness with His people only to find them once again murmuring
in the desert. Back about a week or so before Thanksgiving someone told me how
things were going to be getting better because Christmas was coming and that
always brings out the best in all of us. Well as we get closer and closer to the
celebration of the birth of the savior of the world I am afraid that I do not
see much change in people. If this is the best in us, then we have some serious
bitterness that needs to be sweetened. But do not despair, God is able. Even
when things begin to look the worst, God can step in and turn the tables and
sweeten the loaf. Too often these dry times come right after a great victory. It
is just like the enemy to do everything in his power to try to steal the joy of
our conquest. Well, Let’s take a look at the text and discover what it is that
God is telling us today. If you will allow me to back up just a little bit in
the book of Exodus we will see the great victory that has just taken place. The
15th chapter begins with Moses leading the people in this wonderful
song of victory. “I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously:
the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength
and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an
habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.”
God had just
lead His people to freedom from the bonds of their oppressors. The Red Sea
opened up and they walked across it on dry ground. Then as their enemy began to
come after them on their horses and in their chariots God closes the sea around
them drowning the entire army. So God’s people celebrated. You know something?
We need to remember that. We as God’s people need to celebrate the great things
that God has done for us a little more often. We need to stop trying to be all
dignified and lift up our voices in celebratory praise for the God who has made
all the difference in our lives. Notice I said lift up our voices not a bottle.
There are much better ways to celebrate then by tying one on. The Israelites
spent this time on the free side of the Red Sea singing and dancing and
celebrating their Lord.
Then it was
only three short days later that the murmuring begins. Can you stand it? Do you
know someone that just seems to murmur and complain about everything? Murmur,
murmur, murmur. If anything will change the mood of a party it will be someone
in the back complaining about the punch or the lights or the music or this or
that or the other thing. The problem is that too often that person murmuring is
us. Now to give the Isrealities a break here, it was not as if they did not have
something serious to complain about. It is one thing to complain about the
weather, it is something entirely different to complain about the fact that it
has been three days and there is no water in sight. There are luxuries and then
there are necessities. And water is a must. Let’s read on from or text above and
see just how the people reacted. (Exodus 15:23-24 KJV) “And when they came to
Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter:
therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against
Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”
We can always
find someone to blame can’t we? Well whose fault is it? The real trouble begins
when we ultimately blame God. If this or that happened to me and there is a God
then He is to blame. It is when we loose faith in the goodness of God that we
begin to grow callused and cold and it is not long before we start murmuring
against God and because our faith has been shattered then we try to destroy
others faith as well. “Why let someone else bask in the pleasure of faith in a
loving, all powerful God when we have been so isolated and deserted?” I would
rather have us be an example of Job when he said, "even if God kills me yet well
if praise Him.” Job lost everything. His children, his wealth, his health, even
his wife told him that he should curse God and die. Yet a true man of God does
not turn away from the only one that can restore his life. A person with true
grit will know that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away and it is only the
Lord that can give again.
What did Moses
do when the people started complaining? He took it right to God. There is no
need for us to be complaining to other people. Trust me they do not want to here
your problems, they have enough of their own. Let’s learn to trust in the Lord
and take our complaints to Him. Look at this next verse of scripture and let’s
draw the relevant truth for our everyday life out of it. (Exodus 15:25 KJV)
“And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had
cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a
statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,” Moses cried unto the Lord.
God hears your prayers my friends. And you can know that He knows what you have
need of before you even have need of it. Look at the situation that the
Israelites were in. They were in the middle of the dessert without any water.
When they finally get to some it is undrinkable. Have you ever felt like that?
Things go from bad to worse. It would be easier to handle the thirst if there
were not this pool of undrinkable water right in front of them reminding them of
their thirst.
But look
closer. God in His infinite wisdom knew that the Israelites were going to be at
that exact spot so he prepared a cure for the bitter waters. The water most
likely got bitter from the minerals in the sand. We sometimes, like the bitter
water of Marah become bitter because of the pressures of the world. It is not
difficult to become bitter in such a hard environment. We can look into the
prisons across the land and see how many men and woman have become products of
their society. We can look into the hearts of our loved ones that have grown
cold and know that that youthful joy that was once there has become bitter by
the ravages of this cold earth. It is sad how many people can not enjoy the gift
of life because of the bitterness in their hearts. But look God has prepared a
way to soften even the hardest of hearts.
God spoke to
Moses and showed him a tree. God knew that His children would have need of that
water. Perhaps that is why God allowed it to become bitter in the first place so
that no others would drink it before His people. But God planted a tree. Not
just any tree it was the tree that could change the bitter water to sweet. I
read about how there are plants in Africa that when placed in brackish water
chemically reacts with the water to clear it up and make it drinkable. So it may
not have been a great miracle that turned the bitter water to sweet. It may just
have been a natural chemical reaction that takes place when two things come in
contact. Sometimes we do not need a supernatural miracle we simple need to open
our eyes of faith and know that God has already made a way. God had years
earlier planted that tree that will change the bitter waters to sweet. God has
the answer to your heart’s cry. Look to him through eyes of faith and stop
looking at the bitter waters.
In conclusion
I want you to look at the tree. Look at the cross that Jesus hung upon. God
Himself gave up all of heaven so that you and I would not have bitter water. He
gave up all, so that we could take freely from the water of life. The last day
of Hanukkah is the great dedication feast. It is the day that the temple in
Jerusalem was rededicated to God after a long and hard fought battle. Perhaps I
will go into a little more about that next week. But it is at this dedication
that we see Jesus standing up in the crowd and calling unto us to come and drink
of the living waters. (John 7:37,38 KJV) “In the last day, that great day of
the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto
me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
It was Jesus
that hung upon that cross and He himself thirsted so we would not have to. As He
thirsted upon that cross they gave Him bitter vinegar to drink. We give Him
vinegar; He gives us the river of live. As we let the cross of Jesus touch the
bitter areas of our lives, just that simple contact will change our bitter
hearts to the sweetness of Christ. Is there anything that you lack? God has
already prepared for you the answer. Is there pain and suffering in any area of
your life? Jesus bore the stripes upon His back that we might be healed. As the
tree of Marah changed the bitter waters to sweet let’s all of us be changed
today by the tree of Calvary. Amen.