When the children of Israel came through the Red Sea, they immediately entered the wilderness. What they encountered and experienced there was intended to engender and mature their faith. Their hunger made them seek, their sicknesses made them pray, and their fears made them trust. Although they could not have known it at the time, Christ was their bread, their strength, their refreshment, and their healer.
In the wilderness the children of Israel began to learn the ABCs of faith, and their first classroom was the disappointing place called Marah. There are many disappointments in life, but God is able to create hope through disappointment. Through trial comes trust. Through bitterness we can find sweetness. Suffering first, then glory are the ways of faith, for “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).
The Israelites travelled for days into the wilderness but found no water. The most a human being can endure without water is about three days before they become dehydrated, irritable, lethargic, and in danger of death. After three days they came to Marah, where they thought they had finally found some drinkable water, but they were bitterly disappointed. The water was unfit to drink.
“Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying “What shall we drink?” (Ex. 15:23-24).
Their first response was to complain. The knee jerk reaction of the flesh is to complain so we must watch and pray. Instead of seeing the situation as an opportunity to trust, they saw it as an occasion where God had let them down. Certainly, God could split the sea in two, but could He provide a drink in the wilderness? They turned on each other and, typical for the flesh, blamed their leader for their trouble. Thus, with no faith the people cried out to Moses for a drink.
Often, after a “mountaintop” experience, such as the one the Israelites witnessed when they passed through the Red Sea, we pass through a period of disillusionment. We expect God to act in a miraculous way but then find ourselves disillusioned, wondering “Where is God?” But what we see as “disappointment” God sees as His appointment and uses it to teach us more about Himself.
Thankfully Moses knew what to do. He knew who to turn to and when to do it. He did not complain. He prayed. He did not look down with discouragement. He looked up. He did not wallow in self-pity or pass the blame onto Aaron. Instead, Moses, by faith, cried out to the Lord to remedy the situation. In response the Lord showed him a tree. The tree was the solution. He cast it into the bitter waters and miraculously, the waters were made sweet. The Israelites were saved again.
In this “little” crisis the Lord showed them, and us, how to respond to Him in faith when we face disappointments, privations, or hardships in this life. Instead of complaining we are to cry out to Him. Instead of blaming one another we are to bring our burdens to the Lord. Instead of demanding “What shall we drink?” we are to say, “Wait on the Lord.”
Even though we are separated by thousands of years, not much has changed. We are still asking the same questions. Jesus taught us not to worry saying, “…What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek…” (Matt. 6:31- 32). Our heavenly Father knows we need these things, but He sometimes allows the circumstances and situations of life to stretch us, to show us His amazing grace time and time again.
And after thousands of years the solution remains the same. The tree is still the sweetener of bitter waters, being a picture of our Lord “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree . . . by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). In our trials and disappointments, we are to look to the cross to make the bitter waters sweet. We are to “cast it” into the waters, which is to say, we are to apply it to our situation and remember that He who died on the cross would never let us die in the wilderness for lack of water.
In response to Moses’ prayer, the Lord showed Him a tree. A fresh look at the cross will always refresh a dehydrated saint. But to look for and see the tree is half the battle. Perspective is everything and that is why this is the first event we encounter in the wilderness. In all our disappointments we need to remember the cross and what it means to sweeten all our bitterness.
The Lord provided water in the wilderness in many ways and each of His ways is instructive to us. One time he had Moses strike the Rock and water gushed out. This speaks of Christ crucified to provide salvation and cleansing for filthy sinners. Another time He told Moses to speak to the Rock and water would flow forth. This speaks of Christ risen from the dead to provide refreshment and strength to sojourning saints. But, in this instance, He did not provide water from a rock. Instead, He turned bitter undrinkable water into sweet refreshing water. This speaks of Christ our Comforter who walks with us and teaches us to walk by faith, who delivers us from all our perils and shows us His mighty power in impossible situations.
If we are feeling lonely because we do not have a companion to travel with at this present time, then we can cry out to the Lord and He will again show us the tree, and it will make the bitterness turn sweet. If we have suffered a loss or been the victim of someone else’s reckless sin, then we need to cry out to the Lord and He will again show us the tree, and it will make the bitterness turn sweet. If we thought a local church, ministry, or a relationship was going to be a soul satisfying and refreshing thing but instead it turned out bitter and disappointing, then we need to cry out to the Lord and He will again show us the tree, and it will make the bitterness turn sweet.
Praise the Lord His testing is only for a season and always for a purpose. After the Israelites learned their first lesson of faith – to cry out to God for help – He showed Moses the tree to supply their cure. Shortly after they came to the place called Elim, “where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees” (Ex. 15:27). In that place there was plenty of water for thirsty souls and plenty of shade for sojourning saints. So, they camped there by the waters.
I am sure they would have liked to have remained there forever, but God had much more to teach them. What they needed was to press on to maturity and trials are God’s way of making our faith complete, mature, and whole, lacking nothing. So “they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin” (Ex. 16:1).