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Reading Ex.15:22-27

                  Ja.1:1-18

Celebrating on the shores of the Red Sea the Israelites seem to be in no hurry to move on. Their deliverance from bondage in Egypt was great indeed and what with the recent destruction of the Egyptian army we can readily understand the Israelites contentment to remain basking in their new found freedom.

But life had to continue and Moses obliges them to move on. Moses as the leader of the LORD's people was following the LORD and he wouldn't allow the Israelites to settle where they were.

Right at the outset then of our study this evening we're reminded that the Christian life is to be a life of onward, forward movement. The Christian is to progress towards the goal of Christian maturity. On earth we are not to forget that we are pilgrims passing through – we have no abiding home here. Yet we can all be tempted to settle down and to cease to make progress. Perhaps this temptation is never greater than when we have overcome some difficulty or surmounted some great obstacle or won some significant victory in our lives. Let us beware that legitimate and God-sent temporary respite don't tempt us to imagine we've got as far as we have to travel!

Moses, under God, moved the people on. And in following where the LORD leads it is not long before new trials and tests begin. The faith of the people will be put to the test as will the faith of Moses their leader. The questions we need to consider include the following: How will the people respond? How will Moses respond? Can the LORD provide? How will He do so?

As we look at the experience of these Israelites let us remember that we have to do with the same God as they did and He does not change. If He tested their faith and sought to lead them to greater dependency upon Himself then we should not expect Him to have abandoned the pattern as He deals with us.

There had been many problems and much hardship living in Egypt but if the Israelites had thought that their new life of freedom was going to be completely hassle-free they were wrong. Within less than a week they encountered problems and serious problems at that.

When a person becomes a Christian, particularly if the conversion has been somewhat dramatic the immediate change in lifestyle and experience may be so radical that the new believer may well be tempted to imagine that in a similar way all his/her problems lie in the past. If this be the case then the arrival of new problems will come as a real shock to the system and may well lead to questioning as to whether the Christian faith is genuine after all. Is the Christian life a life worth living if there are still problems to be faced?

Nor is it just the new convert who can be troubled as problems erupt on life's journey. The more mature Christian may struggle too if he/she clings on to some false assumptions that linger on in their thinking about the Christian way. It is very easy to convince ourselves that all will go smoothly if only we do what is right. How then do we cope with problems when we're not aware of having done anything wrong to bring them about? (A careful reread of the Book of Job would help us here. Job's counsellor's are full these wrong assumptions and far from helping Job do him a great disservice and misrepresent God Himself!)

Moses leads the people on and they follow as indeed they should. And it is just that that leads them into difficulty. Trials meet them in the way not of disobedience but of obedience!

What is their problem? It is the lack of drinking water – a real and pressing problem and not one that they could pretend didn't really exist because it did!

Let us pause:

1.       Problems may (or should I say will?) come in the Christian life.

2.       These problems will be real problems that must not be ignored.

3.       These problems coming to us under the guiding hand of God are not to be seen as unmitigated disasters nor as necessarily being evidence of the failure of our faith. God can and does sent us problems and difficulties for a divine purpose – He wants to test our faith and to purify it. So the fact a problem comes is no big deal it is how we react to it that counts!

Ja.1:2-3 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

If you are a believer you have further reason for confidence in the face of trials:

Rom.8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

4.       Knowing these things is a tremendous help but doesn't in itself make facing the difficulties and passing the tests an easy matter. Sometimes it will be very hard but the tests are sent by God not to trip us up but to do us lasting good and to secure that stern medicine is sometimes the order of the day.

Back to the Israelites then: It's not too difficult to feel for them is it? Though their recent experience of powerful deliverance was real enough they didn't know their God very well yet. It seemed to them now that everything had gone pear-shaped. Was God really in control after all? Did He really care for them?

I would be surprised if you had never find this type of question popping into your mind at some stage or other when things didn't turn out according to your own expectations. The trouble is we don't always take the time think about our expectations they're often just somehow there. If we do think about them we often fail to analyse them in the light of the Word of God! We'd save ourselves a good deal of heart-ache if we did because our expectations are often coloured more by our own personal self-interest and wishful thinking than we might care to imagine!

So here we have the Israelites and they have a problem – they have no water to drink. They don't have the option of choosing a trouble-free life they have this massive problem that won't simply disappear. What they can do however is choose how they will respond to the situation.

There are basically two ways in which we can respond to the trials that come our way and we find them both illustrated for us in this episode.

a.       The Israelites respond with no faith in the LORD

b.       But Moses puts faith into practice.

We'll look first at the Israelites – in doing so we may well find that all too often we are not much different from them in either our behaviour or our attitude.

Originally when Moses had gone to speak to Pharaoh he had asked for permission to take the Israelites on a three day journey into the wilderness in order to worship the LORD. Here we find the Israelites after a three day journey into the wilderness but worship is not on their mind – they are thirsty and the only water to drink is undrinkable!

Instead of worshipping the people turned to grumbling, to murmuring, to complaining. It's the first time this word appears in Scripture and regretfully it will not be the last. Each time it will employed it will be to describe the rebellious attitude of the Israelites towards the LORD.

The word is strong in the original – its use tells us that the Israelites were calling God into question. They were expressing their lack of confidence their lack of trust – they didn't think He was able to provide for them and they didn't believe He cared for them any longer.

"What shall we drink?" was a legitimate question but it was the way they posed it that was all wrong.

How quickly they had forgotten the mighty demonstrations of God's power as He delivered them from Egypt and divided the Red Sea that they might cross through in safety! Instead they grumble and complain. This behaviour will be a characteristic feature of the wilderness wanderings – each time their expectations are not met they grumble: here in ch.15 then again in chs.16+17. We read it too in Nu.14,16 +17 too.

The sheer fact of this repetition should alert us to the fact that some lessons are not easy to learn! This may true in our experience as well.

Moses reaction was different to that of the people in general. It's worth noting that he is confronted by the exact same problem but his reaction is different. Whereas the people grumbled and complained Moses turned and cried out to the LORD. There is not a hint of complaint as to the providential leading of the LORD rather Moses invites the LORD into the situation which seems so intractable.

Surely there is a lesson for us here too. We're not to pretend the problem isn't there but we are to take it to the LORD, not in an accusatory manner but to invite Him to come into the situation with the solution that He most assuredly has!

The LORD in turn responds to Moses with "revelation". Moses is directed to a piece of wood that the LORD will use to sweeten the bitter waters of Marah. The log had been there all along but Moses was unaware of its significance until the LORD revealed truth to him about it.

How we need the LORD to reveal Himself and His truth to us when we're in a mess because we always tend to act as though we do understand what should be done. We stand in need of His revelation so that we might understand and appreciate just what the plans and purposes of the LORD really are. Let me give you an example: we hear that a church member is ill – what do you pray for? So often we immediately pray for healing and that because we assume that healing is always the best thing to pray for. It may well be the LORD has other blessings to impart through our friend being unwell for a time. How we need to be able to see things from the LORD's perspective!

Moses and the Israelites needed water to drink if they were to survive – the LORD knew that! But He was using the water shortage to test His people. Did they trust Him? Did they need to have their sense of dependency upon the Lord increased?

It would actually take quite a few trials and tests over a long period of time before such trust could be developed. It may well take some considerable time and some considerable trials to produce the same in our lives – but we can be assured in the knowledge that the LORD works in all things, not just in a few, for our good. Can we learn to count it all joy while He does so?

In the event, surprise surprise, the LORD was sufficient for the needs of His people. Moses leaves us a better example to imitate than did the Israelites in general. Are you more like Moses or the Israelites?

The Israelites didn't come out of this particular test very well, did they? But, do you see, the LORD nevertheless so kind to them. A solution for the water is provided even though the people had been muttering and complaining! Let us understand this to lead us to admire and worship our God and not use it to justify our complaining failures!

As soon as the water is provided the LORD follows us with further instruction. Again His generosity is underlined as He links promises to the faithful accomplishment of duty.

Here is what they are told:

a.       They are to listen to His voice, paying serious attention to all that He has to say to them

b.       They are to put into practice what He tells them – head knowledge is not enough they do need to act in accordance with His commandments.

c.        If they are not rebellious but do this the LORD promises them exemption from the plagues that fell upon rebellious Egypt. (Add note here about charismatic exaggerations at this point about healing and healing without means etc.)

Let's be clear at this point: we are not talking in terms of salvation here. This passage is not teaching us how to become a member of the people of God, how to become a Christian. The Israelites were already God's people (even if they were pretty poor specimens!) what they are being told here is how the LORD expected His people to live out their lives as His people!

If we have become Christians it has been because God has shown us our need of a Saviour and then shown us that He Himself has provided the perfect Saviour we need, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have received our salvation as we have received what God has freely offered us in the gospel – never ever in a million years could a man or a woman earn so great a salvation! But having said that, God still expects His people to live in certain ways. And He wants us too to listen to His voice and do what He says!

The Israelites had failed here at Marah but the LORD didn't give up on them. He spoke again and made wonderful promises to them. How encouraging to know that the LORD our God is no hard task-master but a loving kind and generous Heavenly Father. Be encouraged by this but please don't turn it into an excuse for failure.

The chapter concludes with the people of God no longer living at Marah but enjoying the blessings of Elim.

Life is not normally made up only of "Marahs" Praise God but here are often places called Elim too! Having failed over the water issue at Marah the LORD leads them on to Elim where water shortage is not an issue there is an abundance there!

When the LORD leads us into similar periods of respite and refreshment let's take full advantage of the fact. But neither let us slip into thinking that the LORD somehow owes us an Elim all the time. Moving on from a place of rich blessing and being brought to face more trials and more testings is no sure sign of failure neither on our part nor on the LORD's. He will lead us to just the trials and testings we need not because He doesn't love us or because He couldn't do otherwise – He leads us because He loves us and will do everything needed to strengthen and deepen and purify our faith which He deems vastly more precious than gold!

May the LORD grants us the help of His Spirit that we might understand His leading, that we might trust Him and depend upon more and more and that we may be kept from becoming moaners and complainers, rebels against the LORD who loves us and who sent His Son to die for us.

To God be the Glory.

Amen.