When Bitter Waters Turn Sweet

Exodus 15:22-26

• A Message of Hope, Faith, and Encouragement

• This stop on Israel’s journey through the wilderness, was their first stop between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai where God visited Israel and gave them the Law of Moses.

I. Setting the Scene

A. The children of Israel had just left Egypt after 400 years of captivity.

1. God parted the Red Sea and destroyed the Egyptian army that was pursuing them.

2. They sang Miriam’s song of deliverance.

3. They were headed for the promised land.

4. Everything was going well and the future looked promising!

B. 15:22-24 – After three days of traveling into the wilderness of Shur, and finding no water, they found themselves in a place called Marah.

Exodus 15:22-24

22. So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

23. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

24. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

1. Marah means “bitter.” It got its name from the taste of the bitter water.

2. The same children of Israel who rejoiced and sang the song of deliverance three days before began to murmur against Moses.

C. 15:25 – Moses cried unto the Lord and God showed him a tree to cut down and throw into the water. (A Type of the Cross) The tree “healed the waters!”

Exodus 15:25 – And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

1. What a strange directive! How many of us would have obeyed God and just cut down a tree, throw it in the water and see what God would do?

2. The Scriptures are full of examples such as this. (Noah’s Ark, Samson and the donkey’s jawbone, the death of Jesus on the Old Rugged Cross)

II. The Four-fold Ordinance that brought healing to the Nation of Israel!

Exodus 15:26a – And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes…

A. If… Listen to God’s Voice

1. Some say, “I can’t hear God…” God is always speaking – Pick up your Bible!

2. Make the effort to hear.

B. Do that which is right in God’s sight.

1. Be a doer of God’s Word, not just a hearer.

2. Do not sin! Sin is a willful transgression against the law of God.

C. Give an ear to God’s commandments…

1. This simply means to study them and try to learn what they mean for personal application.

D. Keep all of God’s statutes…

1. It’s important to note that God wants us to keep “all” of his statutes.

2. Statute – An act of the legislature of a state that extends its binding force to all the citizens or subjects of that state, as distinguished from an act which extends only to an individual or company.

a. A statute is corporate or national in nature.

b. God was telling them to not only obey Him individually, but also corporately.

III. God's Promise of Healing & Rest

I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. – Exodus 15:26b

A. God brought the Children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt but many of them still had Egypt in them!

1. We are grateful that God has redeemed us from our past but we should also let God take our past out of us!

2. This is the miracle of the New Birth!

B. They travelled to Elim – Exodus 15:27 - And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

1. Elim, with its twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, suggests the rest and refreshment which are ours after we have been to the cross.

Closing: Our message today focuses upon the fact that no matter how bitter things may seem, there is hope through the Cross of Jesus Christ.

• God can take your sorrow and give you joy1

• God turns our mourning into dancing!

• We are on the brink of Global Revival!

Psalms 30:5 – For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.