Bitter Water Made Sweet
22 Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea,[a] and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah.[b] 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 He cried out to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a piece of wood;[c] he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the Lord[d] made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.
Footnotes:
Exodus 15:22 Or Sea of Reeds
Exodus 15:23 That is Bitterness
Exodus 15:25 Or a tree
Exodus 15:25 Heb he
Exodus 17:1-7, New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Water from the Rock
17 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place Massah[a] and Meribah,[b] because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Footnotes:
Exodus 17:7 That is Test
Exodus 17:7 That is Quarrel
A new journey begins and already, we hear complaining. No one is praising God that they are no longer in slavery. No one is celebrating their freedom with friends or family. No one is thanking God for allowing them to escape the hands of Pharaoh and his army. Just complaining.
But God is faithful. God is always the faithful one. So God provides a simple way to make bitter water sweet and God provides a way to not be parched when water is nowhere to be found. I cannot begin to imagine God's love for us knowing that we still do the same thing today. We forget to praise God that we are no longer living a life of slavery to sin. We move through our days and rarely celebrate the freedom we have in Christ: from ourselves, our selfishness, and the results of our sin, death. And don't even get me started on how little we think to thank God for allowing us to escape everything from addiction to bad behaviors to wrong relationships to averted catostrophes.
And there God stands. On the top of the rock, providing for all our needs. God is faithful and true. God is steadfast and patient. God is good... all the time.
Take a moment and thank God for everything and anything you can think of... God so deserves it.
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