Miracle At Marah

Introduction

When was the last time you felt discouraged? Raise your hand if you have felt even the least bit of discouragement tugging at you during some point this week.

Let me share with you a funny story from my childhood and my battle with discouragement. Growing up my favorite NFL team was the Dallas Cowboys coached by the great Tom Landry. When I was around 8 years old, I had this grand idea that I needed to teach my mom’s preschool kids how to play the game of football. Finally, the big day came. I got all dressed up in a sports coat like Tom Landry! I knew if I wore that coat, those preschoolers were going to show me the proper respect!

Well, they didn’t. In spite of the fact that I tried with all my heart to get them to run the plays, they did the opposite! They laughed, went wild, and didn’t do a thing I asked them to. You talk about an afternoon of being discouraged, disappointed and dejected!

God’s people, Israel, along with their leader, Moses, faced many battles with discouragement. Whatever discouragement you are facing this morning, if you will place it in the hands of God, He can bring you from the pit of discouragement to the palace of destiny. Let’s notice,

I. Israel’s Distress

A. The Dehydrated People

What was causing Israel such distress? First, they came to a point of dehydration. Exodus 15:22, “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.”

The human body can only go so long without water. If you are in a desert place, you may be able to survive 24 hours without water. If you are in a cooler place with lots of moisture, you may last one week. Normally, after a couple of days without water, your kidneys begin to shut down. Your body doesn’t work properly without water.

Just imagine that Israel didn’t have the luxuries you and I have today! They couldn’t go to the kitchen and get a nice glass of ice water. Three million people wandering in the Wilderness of Shur without any refreshing water. Total dehydration!

B. The Disgusting Water

Second, the water they did find was disgusting. Exodus 15:23, “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.”

Marah actually means “bitter.” This water was evidently polluted and not fit to drink. You can just imagine their disappointment. After traveling for three days in the desert, they came to a body of water they thought would quench their thirsty souls, but instead it was repulsive.

Isn’t that the way it is in the world today? The world promises you true joy and satisfaction outside of knowing God, but eventually you will find worldly living leads you to bitter waters. Just ask former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer whose downfall came this past week when his ten year affair with prostitutes was revealed.

C. The Desperate Circumstances

Third, Israel is now facing a time of desperation. They couldn’t go on much longer without that water. So they did they do? Remain calm and prayerful? Trust God? No, they began to complain to their leader, Moses. Exodus 15:24, “And the people complained against Moses, saying “What shall we drink?”

D. The Decisive Prayer

Fourth, Moses made a great leadership decision. He began to pray! Verse 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.”

It was J. Vernon McGee who asked, “What was it that made the bitter water of Marah sweet? We are told that a tree cast into the water made it sweet. Galatians 3:13 says, “Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.’ “Jesus Christ died on a tree, and it is that cross that makes the experiences of life sweet. ‘O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’ 1 Corinthians 15:55. It is the cross of Christ that makes sweet the Marah experiences of life.

Now, before you go putting down the people of God for their lack of faith, you would have done the same thing. It’s easy to get discouraged when you leave God out of the equation!

If you read through the whole chapter of Exodus 15, you’ll find that God had just done a mighty miracle for the people of Israel. Just three days prior to these “wilderness wanderings,” God had opened up the Red Sea and allowed His people to pass through on dry ground. God had saved them from King Pharaoh and the massive Egyptian army. Israel’s faith in God was at an all time high! Exodus 14:31 says, “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”

Following this miracle was a mighty time of praise and worship to the Lord! Moses burst forth in a spirit-filled song of praise to God. His sister, Miriam the prophetess led the women in singing and dancing before the Lord! When God does something great in your life, that’s a wonderful time to lift Him up with a mighty shout of praise!

What happened to the people’s praise to God? Why did that pout instead of pray? One word - forgetfulness. They forgot about the power of God!

There were three sisters—ages 92, 94, and 96—who lived together. One night, the 96-year-old drew a bath. She put one foot in, then paused. "Was I getting in the tub or out?" she yelled. The 94-year-old hollered back, "I don't know, I'll come and see." She started up the stairs, but stopped on the first  one. She shouted, "Was I going up or coming down?" The 92-year-old was sitting at the kitchen having tea, listening to her sisters with a smirk on her face. She shook her head and said, "I sure hope I never get that forgetful," and knocked on wood for good measure. Then she yelled, "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."

Do you ever forget all God has done for you? If so, try this little experiment. Before you go to sleep, see if you can recall five ways you sensed God’s presence that day (even in the little things). Get into a good habit of reminding yourself of the presence and power of God. Psalm 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” In your distress, remember you serve a God who is concerned about what afflicts you and is willing to hear your cry for help!

II. Israel’s Deliverer

Why would God allow this to happen? Why would God lead His people out of a time of great victory and celebration, into this time of wilderness wanderings? I don’t have all the answers, but let me read to you from Anne Graham Lotz book, Why? Trusting God When You Don’t Understand.

(Paraphrase – One of the promises Anne believed God had given her for her children was Exodus 15:1-2, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”

Anne says, “The promise God seemed to give me from this ancient hymn of joy was that He would supernaturally overthrow anything or anyone else seeking to hinder my children from being in His place of blessing for their lives. I believed that God would be our strength and son and salvation as a family so that together we could exalt Him!

Then cancer struck my son. And hurricanes struck our property. And fire struck my husband’s office. And the devil struck vital family relationships. Staggering from one disaster to the next, I felt the sea walls collapsing, not on the “enemy” that was pursuing me, but on me! In fact, in some areas, my head is not above water yet! Why? Why does God let things go from bad to worse from those He loves…?”

A few pages later, Anne finishes this story saying, “…what He was really saying was that He would see to it that my children would be secure in His place of blessing. But I have discovered He sometimes allows them to have a frightening, traumatic Red Sea experience of pursuit and danger in the process.”

Being a follower of Jesus Christ does not mean life is always going to be easy. We do not always get to stay on the shore of the Red Sea praising the Name of our Strong and Mighty God! Thank God for the great mountain tops moments of your faith, but you will be sorely disappointed if you expect to stay there your whole life!

Through this process of leading Israel from victory through the valley, God wanted to do at least two things for His people.

A. God Was Testing Them

First, God was testing them. Vs. 25b-26, “There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 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.”

God tests us, so we will learn to trust and obey Him! After God gave the 10 commandments, Moses said, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that He fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

Sin against God leads to awful consequences. Smoking may lead to lung cancer. Sex outside of marriage may lead to Aids. Eating junk food all day may lead to heart problems. Gossip may lead to broken relationships.

Obedience to God brings blessing. As you follow the Lord Jesus Christ in obedient faith, He will help you become better instead of bitter. The old hymn says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!”

B. God Was Teaching Them

Second, God wanted to teach them. What did God want to teach them? He wanted to teach them His Name. Look at verse 26, “For I am the Lord who heals you.” In Hebrew, “Jehovah Rapha.”

While I have never had the Lord physically heal me in a supernatural sense, I have friends whom He has healed. The Lord has healed some of you of various disease, emotional pain, addictions.

The healing of the Lord I can testify to, is spiritual healing in my heart through the cross of Calvary! Just as God provided Moses a tree to cast into the water at Marah, God also provided His Son who died on a tree at Calvary! Jesus aid in John 3:14-16, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

I have failed God’s tests many times, but because of Calvary’s love, I have a Savior today! He loves me and is patient with me, just as He is you. Turn away from complaining, bitterness, murmuring, sinful attitudes that move you away from God! Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! Allow Him to be your Jehovah Rapha, “the Lord who heals you.”

III. Israel’s Destiny

Do you believe God had a plan for His people God all along? Yes, He did! In fact, He was leading them from Marah, the place of bitterness to Elim, the place of blessing! What made Elim so spectacular?

A. A Place Of Sweetness

First, Elim was a place of sweetness. v. 27a, “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees.” The Lord blessed His people with a sweet time at Elim. The twelve wells of water symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel. The seventy palm trees symbolized the seventy elders of Israel. The Lord blessed them in abundance!

B. A Place Of Satisfaction

Second, Elim was a place of satisfaction. “…so they camped there by the waters.” If God’s people would have stopped walking and obeying God, they never would have reached their Elim. If you keep walking in obedience to God, even through the most discouraging times, eventually He’ll lead you to your Elim!

Your circumstances may look awfully disappointing to you on this Palm Sunday. It sure looked that way to Christ’s disciples when He died on the cross of Calvary. They felt helpless and hopeless, much like Israel did at Marah. Little did they know, three days later, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, help, hope, healing was on its way!

Do you think God’s people stopped long enough to thank God for Elim? To praise Him for all He had done for them?! What about you? Have you thanked God for Jesus? Have you thanked Him for all He’s done for you?

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is John 7:37-38 where Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Are you thirsty? Come to Jesus and He will quench your spiritual thirst. Just as God met His people’s need at Elim, He still meets your utmost needs today. Through the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit, God will provide you with daily living water to sustain you through life’s most discouraging times.

Conclusion

Philip Yancey writes in Christianity Today of an encouraging truth he heard from a young man named Mike who works among the homeless: Mike told me that homeless people, having hit bottom, don't waste time building up an image or trying to conform. And they pray without pretense, a refreshing contrast to what he found in some churches. I asked for an example. He said: "My friend and I were playing guitars and singing 'As the Deer Panteth for the Water,' when David, a homeless man we knew, started weeping. 'That's what I want, man' he said. 'I want that water. I'm an alcoholic and I  want to be healed.'"

As we partake of the Lord’s Supper this morning, would you pray that prayer along with the homeless man, David? Would you say, “Jesus, I want that water. I am a sinner and I want to be healed?”