Marah’s not the end of the journey
Our text is in Exodus chapter 15.
This chapter begins with singing and dancing. The children of Israel are rejoicing and praising God for his great deliverance.
They are saying things like; the Lord is my strength and my God. The Lord shall reign forever and forever.
A people full of victory and praise, a people looking to their God, but their idea of forever was 3 days.
Read verses 22-24. In 3 days they have gone from praising, singing, and dancing to turning on their leader, and crying what shall we drink.
Now don’t look down on Israel too hard. It only took some of us 3 hours in the wilderness to find bitterness.
Some of us lose our praise and forget who our God is in the time it takes to get home from church.
Israel had forgotten the song of the redeemed. Trouble had come. Doubt had raised it’s head. What shall we drink? What shall we do?
Verse 25. But Moses cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. Don’t lose sight of the tree!
Galatians 3:13 says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: For it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.
Friend, if you are in the wilderness, if you have found the wells of this world have turned bitter, if you can find no refreshing for your soul, I have come to tell you, Look to the tree.
Look to the cross of Calvary where Jesus won the victory for you, where he bore our sickness and took our infirmities. Jesus is the tree of life that can make the bitter waters sweet again.
Isaiah 12:3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Now Israel had forgotten God’s will for them. God had not brought them to Marah so they could die of thirst.
Although sometimes it takes a little thirst to help us remember where the water comes from.
Here at Marah God gave Israel an ordinance; a promise. He declared his will for them, and also left them room for their will.
Verse 26. If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the God that healeth thee.
Then he brought them to Elim where there were 12 wells of water and 3 score and 10 palm trees.
God gave Israel a word and a promise to hold onto, but he also gave them opportunity to choose.
Israel started on what should have been an 11 day trip and because of their doubt and unbelief in God’s Word and His will, it turned into a 40 year journey. The ones who complained remained.
I have come to tell you today that it is God’s will to do you good.
Exodus 15:26. God said, I am the Lord that healeth thee.
Exodus 23:25. And ye shall serve the Lord your God and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
III John verse 2. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy sould prospereth.
Now some will say that God was only speaking to Israel or John was only writing to Gaius. If that be the case then Paul only wrote Galatians to the Galatians and Romans to the Romans. Maybe we should tear all that out of our Bibles.
NO! NO! NO! Every word in the Bible is for me and you, and God said he wants to take sickness and disease out of our midst.
He said he wants us to prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper, but he also said we have something to do about it.
We can murmur and complain and fear and stay where the water is bitter or we can look to the tree.
Some of the same people tell me they don’t think it’s God’s will to heal them, will go to the doctor anyway.
If you really believe it’s God’s will for you to suffer, why are you going to the doctor? Wouldn’t that be disobedient?
I am always amazed by those who claim that healing died with the apostles, but are going to the hospital. If God took healing away, no hospital in the land could restore it.
Remember the promises of God for the obedient, and remember that God said, I change not.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
If you have come to a well of bitterness in your life, look to the tree. Look to the cross. Look to Jesus.
He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
Listen to me, Marah is where Isreal was that day,But not where they were going. Marah was not where God was taking them but where he was leading them through.Although the water is bitter in Marah, Marah is not the end of the trip.
God never intended for them to stay there. David said yea though I walk through the valley. (Psalm 23) He didn’t intend to stay there.
You see, real freedom comes when we learn to put our trust in God:
Freedom from sin;
Freedom from fear;
Freedom from worry;
Freedom from the cares of life.
Real freedom is birthed by faith in God’s Word.
You see the question is not so much where I am at, if I am in the valley or on the mountain, but the important part is where I am going.
Let’s look at verse 27.
And they came to Elim where were twelve wells of water and threescore and ten palm trees and they encamped there by the water.
When Israel fell in the wilderness it was not by God’s plan, but by their disobedience.
God has a plan for you and his plan is not to leave you with only bitter water, but to bring you out of the desert.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.
