Exodus – The story of God’s presence
Part 9
“Fear not the ob-stacles in your path”
Exodus 15:22-27
I love the movie Oh Brother where art thou and quote it often
In my opinion it is one of the funniest movies ever made
Early on in the movie
Everett- Pete and Delmar chained together wearing stripped pajamas
Hitch a ride on a hand car on the rail road
The old blind man who is pumping the hand car
Tells them ‘that they----
He tells them
Well let me quote it as best I can
“You seek a great fortune
And you will find the fortune
But’ it will not be the fortune that you seek
First you must travel
A long and difficult road
A road fraught with peril
You shall see things to wonderful to tell------
I cannot tell you how long this road may be
But fear not the obstacles in your path
It never ceases to amaze me that when we look for God
When we seek his face
We find in him in all sorts of places
In movies and songs
In the good times and on the rough roads
When I think of rough roads
I think of my time in Zambia
Where we traveled a really rough road for hours to get to one of the most beautiful places I have ever been
Only to have to leave a few days later and travel the rough road again
Many people in this world want you to believe that when you become a Christian
Life will be a bed of roses
No more problems
No times of despair
No trials
No testing
No temptations
Nothing but easy sailing
I need to tell you
If you have been told this
You have been lied to
The Christian life is often hard
It is made up of rough roads with occasional rest
And the roads we must travel are often filled with obstacles
But
So is everyone’s road
The world is a rough place
But
We when we know Jesus
We do not need to fear the obstacles in our path
Because we know we will end up at a place of beauty one day
But for now we must endure the obstacles
And try to learn from them to continue our spiritual growth
Today we are picking back up in our study of Exodus
Last week
God’s people ---the Israelites
Had finally gained their freedom
God had miraculously
Delivered them from bondage
He had split the sea in a great show of his power
And the People had raised their voices in praise and worship to God
Yahweh
The God of Abraham
The God of Isaac
The God of Jacob
The one who had rescued them just as he had promised
And now
2 million free people
Set off
Following God
As he led them
On a road
Not a smooth road
Not an Easy road
Not even a well traveled road
But a road that was difficult and one that contained many obstacles
Let’s read Exodus 15:22
Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water.
If you were in round pen last week you have heard some of this
But
I do not believe we can hear God’s word too much or too often
The Hebrews were headed for the Promised Land
I have no doubt that they thought God would take them straight there
From Point A to point B as we discussed a couple of weeks back with no detours or layovers
But now
Here
They were traveling through the desert
And they were getting thirsty
I can see Augustus McRae in my mind saying
What if it’s all like this?
No water
No grass
No nothing
Guys
The desert does not have much to offer
No water
Little shade
Just sand and heat
Barely enough to feed a little old lizard
Definitely not the land flowing with milk and honey that they were expecting
But remember God always has a plan
And his plan for his people often contains hardships and obstacles
God needed the people to trust in him and him alone
He needed them to stop looking to themselves
He needed them to stop looking back to Egypt
Stop looking to the desert for their needs and just Trust in him
Even when trusting him went against common sense
This is what he needs us to do as well
Look to him
Trust in him
Unfortunately they did just the opposite
They grumbled and complained
Don’t we often follow their lead as well?
Let’s pick back up in Exodus 15:23
23 When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).
Imagine
Traveling for three days in the desert
With no water
I know some of you can’t go from Grand Saline to Canton without a route 44 drink in the cup holder
In fact
I am going to have to take a drink just to get past that thought of how thirsty they must have been
And then
Imagine
Coming to a place that has plenty of water
And finding out it is no good to drink
Water -water everywhere and not a drop to drink
Like the poem
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Water everywhere but it is bitter
Not poison
But undrinkable all the same
Imagine what you would do
I hate to say it
But if we get real with ourselves
Truly honest
I think our reaction would be real similar to The Israelites
I actually think it would be hard not to complain and grumble
Verse 24
“ Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded.”
Focus on that word complained
They complained against Moses
But they were going the wrong way
He was thirsty too
He had just walked for 3 days without water too!
Their complaint was against God not Moses
I can tell you I bet Old Moses
Got tired of hearing those crybabies
I can tell you I bet he often wanted to say
Suck it up butter cup
And I can tell you as tired as Moses got of it
God must have really got sick of it
Think about it
They had seen his power
Over and over again
They had seen wondrous things
He had delivered them
He had parted the sea
And how quickly they had forgotten
So here they are wallowing in hopelessness
What are we going to drink they asked
They couldn’t fix the water
Moses in himself could not fix the water
This is where trust comes in
And this is where God wanted them
This is why he brought them to Marah
So they would trust him
Verse 25
25 So Moses cried out to the LORD for help, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.
As sick as Moses was of hearing the grumbling
He still cried out to God on behalf of the people
This shows us how good a leader Moses was
And as sick as God must have been of the grumbling
He still turned the bitter water sweet
This shows us how great our God is
Key on this as we will come back here soon in our application
He turned the bitter--- sweet
In spite of the complaining
In spite of the grumbling
In spite of the lack of trust
He had Moses chuck in a piece of wood and presto
Good water
Not because they deserved it
Not because they had been good
Not because of anything they did
But
Because he is God of mercy and because he loves
Next God through Moses gave them the first of many rules
The bible calls it a decree
A standard to test their faithfulness
A test of their trust
Verses 25b-26
It was there at Marah that the LORD set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. 26 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
I love this part
If you will listen to God’s voice and do what is right in his sight
He will heal
You see
God heals our souls
Spiritual healing
He sometimes heals our bodies
And when he does it is amazing
But it is our souls that need healing
We are sinful beings
And we often have trouble trusting
We like Pharaoh often have a listening problem
And we definitely have a problem doing what is right
And then when life gets bitter
We grumble
And complain
And blame God for our messes
Instead of trusting him and obeying him
But God still provides
Verse 27 tells me that we serve a God of mercy
They had complained and grumbled
And still God sweetened the bitter
And Then God delivers them to a beautiful place
Verse 27
27 After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.
After 3 days in the desert
After finding bitter water
After grumbling and complaining against God
God in his mercy
Sweetened the water
And then He took them to a better place
A place with an abundance of water
A place with shade
A place of rest
He took them to Elim
Simply because He loved them
And simply because they trusted him
Just a little
But a little was enough
Sometimes we just need a little trust to receive God’s blessings
A little faith in God’s hands can move mountains
The bible says faith the size of a mustard seed
Many times in our lives God takes us to Marah
And make no mistake our trip to Marah often comes after a mountain top experience
God promises us abundant life
And that means mountain tops and valleys
And for believers
The mountains are higher
And the valleys deeper
But as Terry said last week in round pen
The best water is often found in the valleys
It is in the valley that we learn to trust God
Rely on God to meet our needs
It is in the hard times that we need God the most
And it is in the hard times that we come to understand that we need Him
And how much
New believers
The desert road and Marah often come just a short time after your salvation
Old Slick is not happy about your decision to change teams and he wants to ruin your mountaintop experience
He wants to render you ineffective
He wants to steal your joy
And he wants to cause you to doubt
It is easy to give in
Complain
Grumble
Go back to your old life
Your old sins
Your old habits hang ups and relationships
But this is where trust comes in
We must trust in him
Trust him because he delivered you
In spite of you
He delivered you and he will provide for you
You see
God sends us into the desert and places obstacles in our path
He sends us to Marah
So we will learn to trust in him completely in him
God sends us to Marah to test us and grow our faith
Spiritual growth comes from pruning
Spiritual growth comes from discipline
Spiritual growth comes from in cowboy terms
From the mashing on
That is the conviction of our sins and our choices by The Holy Spirit
And then making changes that that conviction exposed
God sends us to Marah to teach us to trust and obey him
Even in the tough times
Especially in the tough times
He sends us there
To teach us that we can’t get to Elim on our own
That only he can take us there
Lauren Daigle sings a song that really touches my heart and I believe it will yours as well
"Trust In You"
Letting go of every single dream
I lay each one down at Your feet
Every moment of my wandering
Never changes what You see
I’ve tried to win this war I confess
My hands are weary I need Your rest
Mighty Warrior, King of the fight
No matter what I face, You’re by my side
When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!
Truth is, You know what tomorrow brings
There’s not a day ahead You have not seen
So, in all things be my life and breath
I want what You want Lord and nothing less
When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!
You are my strength and comfort
You are my steady hand
You are my firm foundation; the rock on which I stand
Your ways are always higher
Your plans are always good
There’s not a place where I’ll go, You’ve not already stood
When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!
I will trust in You!
I will trust in You!
I will trust in You!
This is what Marah is all about
That is what the desert is all about
Learning to trust God
Completely
Learning to trust God when your marriage is falling apart
Learning to trust God when illness and death knock at the door
Learning to trust God when the job ends and there is more month than money
We don’t always understand
And we are not supposed to
But we must trust
Trust
If you are a believer
Trust that God will provide
Trust that God has a plan
Trust that it is a good plan
Trust that he will make all things beautiful if we let him
That he will take the messed up things of our life and use them for his glory
If you have not accepted Jesus
Trust still applies
John 14:1
Jesus says
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
1 Peter 1:8-9
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
Focus on verse 9 with me
9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
Close from the heart
