Lessons Bitter and Sweet

Exodus 15:22-27 

22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 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. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.  There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”  27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.

After the Lord’s victorious deliverance through the Red Sea, He used Moses to take them into the desert wilderness.  They looked for days to find water (Psalm 63:1), but only found some that was bitter and undrinkable.  The people complained so much that Moses begged the Lord for an answer; God gave him a certain tree to throw into the ware to make it for for drinking.  He turned the bitterness sweet.  God set a test and command before the people that they should listen to Him and obey wholeheartedly to avoid the plagues He gave to the unbelieving Egyptians.  He also reminded them also that He alone is the Lord who can heal them.  They then traveled to a place called Elim, a place of much water like an oasis with palm trees to find rest and water.  There they could stop and reflect in the water on what the deliverance and promises of God meant, and how it should encourage their faith and obedience.  We likewise must reflect on God’s sovereign salvation of our rescue from His wrath on our sin, He who led us in Christ to living waters within us, and live to honor Him in obedience and grace.