Hope for the Bitter Waters of Life

Exodus 15:22–25

Intro.

I want you to take your Bibles, and I want you to open your Bibles to Exodus the fifteenth chapter.

(talk about the series of messages… “HOPE FOR HOPELESS CASES”…

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is an expository series of messages about desperate cases from the Bible.

The Bible is full of desperate cases.

We are talking about human situations and circumstances that appear in the Word of God that seem to have no solution.

For exemple:

As was the case of the Great Storm on the Sea of Galilee,

As the Woman's disease with the flow of blood,

The Terrifying Case of the Woman caught in the Act of Adultery...

The Detour and Dead Ends of Life…

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The Bible presents many other situations that are impossible for the human mind, but are easily resolved by the power of a sovereign God!

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Please pick up your Bibles, and turn to Exodus, chapter 13 - Exodus, chapter 13.

I want to talk to you today about this subject: “Hope for the Bitter Waters of Life.”

Now the scripture that I have for you today takes place right after that event that we call the exodus, where the children of Israel came out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. (we study it last week - Hope for Life’s Dilemma”)

Some of you have seeing a movie about it,

Now many of you think you know about it because you saw a movie, and the film writer/director/cast - told you how it was done.

Friend, let me tell you that there’s no movie—no film—that can describe the glory, the marvel, the mystery, and the miracle of the opening of the Red Sea, and the bringing of the children of Israel through, dry-land.

Beginning in verse 22:

Exodus 15:22–25 “22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 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. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 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. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them,”

They came to a place of bitterness, and so will you.

There are three categories of persons that are here today:

those who are in trouble,

those who are just getting out of trouble,

and those who are going into trouble.

I mean, that’s all the folks that are here today.

Folks, “man that is born of woman is few of days and full of trouble” Job 5:7

We all have difficulties; we all have problems. That doesn’t mean that things have gone wrong.

That doesn’t mean that things have gotten out of hand.

As a matter of fact, we are often in trouble by the providence and the plan and the purpose of Almighty God, as I’m going to show you today. (did last week)

So pay attention, because what I’m reading to you today is not just what did happen—it is what is happening;

not just what God has said—what God is saying;

and not what God is saying to the congregation in general, but what God is saying to you today.

Now if you’ll pay attention, then you’re going to learn some truths that are going to help you in a tremendous way when you come to the place of bitter Waters

I didn’t say, “if you come”: “when you come” to the place of bitter waters.

I’m going to show you how God can turn your bitter waters into a blessing, as He did for these people, and as He wants to do for you.

Because sooner or later—it’s just a matter of time—we’ll all know sorrow, we’ll all know heartache, and we will all know some kind of bitterness.

I. The Unfailing Providence of God

Now the first thing I want you to notice with me, as we look into God’s Word today and try to extract the truth for our hearts there, is this: I want you to see the unfailing providence of God—what I call the unfailing providence of God.

God is guiding them. Now God led them to this place of bitter waters by His providence.

They were not there by mistake.

They were not there by happenstance.

They were not there because of bad luck.

They were not there because they could not read a map.

The way that they got to this place was by the providence of God, for they were led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

They were exactly in the place that God wanted them, by His unfailing providence.

Now they’d just come through the Red Sea.

And you talk about being ecstatic.

You talk about being happy.

You talk about being exuberant.

They were leaping and dancing and praising God, and shouting and singing!

Let me just show you what I’m talking about.

Let’s Go back, if you will, to chapter 15 and verse 6.

You can pick up the tone of this chapter here and the selected verses I’m going to read.

They are singing, and they say,

Exodus 15:6 “6 “Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces.”

Oh, they were so happy! Look,

Exodus 15:11 “11 “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?”

Oh, my, how they were praising the Lord! Look in verse 13:

Exodus 15:13 “13 You in Your mercy have led forth The people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength To Your holy habitation.”

Oh, praise God! Glory, hallelujah! They were saying, “Lord, you’ve redeemed us! You’ve delivered us! Oh, thank you, Lord! Thank you!”

They’d just made up their minds they were going to be true to the Lord forever and ever and ever.

Look in verse 18:

Exodus 15:18 “18 “The Lord shall reign forever and ever.””

“We’ve got it settled now. We know whose God is the true God.

We know which God is the great God.

Glory hallelujah!

We’re on the glory road! Nothing can stop us! We’re living on the sunny side of Sunshine Avenue!” Wonderful! Fine!

But now I want you to see something. In the light of all of that, and in contradistinction to all of that, I want you to look in verse 23:

Exodus 15:23–24 “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. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?””

Can you believe it? Can you believe it? I mean, they’re saying, “Our God is the true God! Glorious, wonderful, majestic is His name! He’s God forever and ever!”

And three days later—not three weeks later, but three days later—they are griping, grousing, complaining, murmuring, criticizing, carping, and finding fault—the same people. It’s unbelievable.

But here they are—three days later, they’re complaining; they’re murmuring.

Now I want to remind you that they were there where they were by the providence of God.

Nothing had gone wrong when they got to Marah. They had not sinned. And when they had got to Marah, God had not failed. They were there in the plan of God, the will of God, and the work of God.

And you could write over it Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Now so I want to tell you, friend, in the providence of God—the unfailing providence of God—you’re often led to a place of bitterness.

Do you understand that? Please understand it today. Don’t get the idea that if you become a Christian, that if you come through the Red Sea by the blood of the Lamb, that your problems are behind you. It is simply not so.

And if you get that sort of an idea in your mind, then you’re going to think somehow that you have sinned or that God has failed when you come to a place of bitterness.

They were there by the unfailing providence of God. God had led them there: the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, which represents to us the Holy Spirit.

II. The Unknown Purpose of God

Now the second thing I want you to see—not only the unfailing providence of God, but I want you to see the unknown purpose of God.

Now why did God bring them to this place? And God brought them to this place. Well, friend, He had a purpose there. I want you to look and see in verse 25—the last part of verse 25:

Exodus 15:25 ... There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them,”

Just underscore that phrase, “there he tested them.”

It was there that He put them to the test. Do you know why God brought them to this place of bitterness? It was a place of test.

It was a place where God was going to prove them.

That wilderness was God’s proving ground.

In the USA many universities require students to pass through a text called SAT - the Scholastic Assessment Test.

The SAT Test is a test that helps universities evaluate applicants' academic knowledge and analytical capabilities.

You see, God is a wise teacher. He gives them a SAT test first and the lesson afterwards. And that’s what He did to these people. He gave them a test.

Now God, unknown to them, was testing them.

And I want you to know how they did on the test? They failed it miserably.

Ill. They’re like the boy who went to his college professor and said, “Professor, I don’t believe I deserve this F that you gave me.” The professor said, “Son, I don’t believe you deserve it either, but it’s the lowest grade we had.”

That’s how bad they failed this test! I mean, God was putting them to the test, and, shamefully, they failed the test that God gave them.

But how did they fail the test? Well, they failed the test by murmuring when trouble came.

And I want to tell you something, friend. When God gets ready to test you—

He’s not going to test you in the good times; because that’s not a test.

He’s not going to test you in the middle of a revival meeting: that’s not the test.

He’s not going to test our church when statistics are up, and it’s growing, and people are being baptized, and the budgets this year are more than they were last year, and all of that—that’s no test.

Anybody can serve God in the sunshine.

You see, they were leaping, dancing, praising, shouting, singing, and glorifying God when they came out of Egypt through the Red Sea.

See, anybody can shout in the sunshine, but can you sing in the shadows? That’s the test.

The test is not how you behave when it’s victory all around;

The test is how do you behave when God brings you to bitterness—when God brings you to Marah, where there’s no water! (money, job, health, friends…)

There the Bible says God brought them that He might test them.

Now He didn’t test them that He might know what was in their hearts.

He already knew what was in their hearts.

He wanted them to know what was in their hearts.

He wanted them to understand the weakness and the frailty of their human nature. And so He tested them. And the Bible says, in verse 25, that He brought them there to prove them.

Well, they murmured. And do you know whom they murmured against?

They murmured against Moses. Now they were criticizing their pastor. This is a good point, and so I want you all to pay attention.

What they started to do now was to criticize their pastor. Now at this point, the pastor hadn’t done anything wrong. I’m sure he didn’t understand what was happening either, because all he had was the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.

He’d never been that way before. All he could do was just do what he thought God wanted him to do and to follow the leadership of the Lord: the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. And that’s exactly what he was doing!

But they ended up there in Marah, and the people said, “Moses, can’t you read a map? How are we …? What are you doing out here in this …?

I mean, there’s nothing to drink. You’ve got three million people out here. We’re going to perish.” And they whined, and they complained, and they grumbled and criticized and carped against Moses.

Now, folks, I want to tell you something. It’s an amazing thing how fickle people are. Did you know that people are fickle? This crowd—listen to me—just three days ago had been praising Moses to high heaven. As a matter of fact, their song, in Exodus chapter 15, is called “The Song of Moses and the Lamb.”

I mean, they were just putting Moses up there with Jesus. I mean, they were praising, “Oh, how wonderful is Moses! We’re singing Moses’ song!” But in three days Moses had gone from hero to zero.

I mean, now they’re speaking against Moses. They’re criticizing Moses. They are murmuring against Moses.

I want to tell you something, leaders and preacher out there. Learn something from this passage.

People will praise you when you’re in the ministry—and that’s fine; nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, if you want to praise me, then you have my permission. It’s okay. As a matter of fact, I like it.

And if you say that you don’t like people to speak well of you, then I think you’re lying. I think there’s something in us: we like to be praised, don’t we?

Don’t look so pious. Nod your head. Sure! We like to be praised.

Everybody likes to be praised, and there’s nothing wrong with us giving praise to people.

The Bible says that we’re to give honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7). But I tell you what I’ve learned. I’ve learned this.

The praise I receive is praise because God has done something in my life. God has blessed me. God has shown me something. God has enriched me. God has empowered me. And I am walking in the Holy Spirit. When I receive that praise, I had better pass it right on to Jesus, amen? I can’t keep it; I must pass it on.

Now somebody says, “Well, that was a good message. It really blessed my heart.” I might say, “Well, praise the Lord!” Maybe I won’t say that. Maybe that sounds so pious. Sometimes it just sounds sticky, and like you’re just dripping with piety, when you say, “Well, just praise the Lord.” But even if I may not say that outwardly, I must feel it in my heart, and that praise must go to Jesus. I’ll tell you why: because if you’re walking in the Holy Spirit and you receive praise, then the praise is due to Him. But if you’re walking in the Holy Spirit—now, pay attention, preacher—you’re walking in the Holy Spirit and following God, and you receive criticism, then you can give that criticism to Him too. See, you can pass that on to Him. And you don’t have to live with that criticism when you are walking in the Spirit. But if you don’t pass the praise on to Him, then He won’t let you pass the criticism on to Him. But if you pass the praise on to Him, then, at the same time, you can pass the criticism on to Him, and you can joy in the fact that you’re suffering for Jesus’ sake.

Now that’s what Moses did. Moses knew that people were so fickle. He didn’t get all wrapped up in that. You see, the Bible says it’s better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man, “whose breath is in his nostrils” (Isaiah 2:22). That is, don’t you look to men for your approval. Ultimately, you must look to God. Moses knew—Moses knew that their criticism was really against God.

Look, if you will, in Exodus chapter 16 and verse 2:

Exodus 16:2 “2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.”

Now that must have been bad. I mean, can you imagine having three million people sniping, murmuring, and complaining?

You’re the leader and just doing the best you know how, following God, walking in the Spirit. Well, they all murmured against Moses.

But Moses understood in his spirit and he says, look, if you will, down in verse 7—chapter 16, verse 7:

Exodus 16:7–8 “7 And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we, that you complain against us?” 8 Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.””

Are you listening, ladies and gentlemen? Murmuring is not against your pastor, not against your teacher, not against your parents, and not against your circumstances. Your complaining is against God, who by His providence allowed you to be where you are. Huh? Just nod your head. Say amen. Your murmuring is against God.

Well, you say, “Yeah, murmuring. Well, that’s not such a bad sin.”

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and let me show you something here—1 Corinthians chapter 10, and let’s look in verse 1. First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 1:

1 Corinthians 10:1 “1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,”

Now in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 1, we know here that God is talking about the same experience that we have here in Exodus 15 when they came through the Red Sea and they’re under the cloud that is leading them.

Now with that in mind—remember that it’s exactly the same incident that the Bible is talking about—skip down to verse 7. Here’s what God said to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 10:7 “7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.””

Do you know what those Jewish people did in the wilderness in that day? They made a golden calf. And after they made the golden calf they had a drunken orgy. And then they stripped off their clothes and danced around the golden calf. You say, “Terrible! Horrible!” I say, “Amen.”

Let’s continue to read. Now we’re not going to be idolaters, huh? Verse 7, right? All right.

1 Corinthians 10:8 “8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;”

—sexual immorality in the wilderness. They were committing the sin of fornication, and God judged them. And thousands of them were slain by the hand of God because they committed fornication.

You say, “That’s right: a terrible, horrible sin!” Look in verse 9:

1 Corinthians 10:9 “9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;”

Some of them blasphemed God and criticized Him. And because of their blasphemy poisonous serpents came to bite them, and they died. You say, “Well, they probably deserved it.”

Okay now, look in verse 10

1 Corinthians 10:10 “10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.”

Do you see that? Do you see that God ranks murmuring with the sin of idolatry?

God ranks murmuring with the sin of fornication.

God ranks murmuring with the sin of blasphemy. Do you see that?

You think that it’s a little thing that you murmur, don’t you?

You think that it’s a little thing. You say, “Well, everybody murmurs a little bit.”

Listen. Moses said, “Your murmuring is not against me. Your murmuring is against God” (Exodus 16:8). And it is a terrible, horrible sin!

Now, why is it such a terrible sin? Because, you see, murmuring roots in unbelief. And, “he who does not believe God has made Him a liar” 1 John 5:10

You see, why did they murmur? Well, they thought they were going to perish out there in the wilderness. “There’s no water! There’s nothing to drink! We’re here in a place where God has brought us here, or Moses has brought us here, or circumstance has brought us here, or bad luck has brought us here!” And there they are, murmuring, because there’s no water!

Well, I want to ask you a question. Who had just brought them through the Red Sea three days prior, but Almighty God?

Now I want to ask you, do you think that God had invested that much in them and done that much for them to abandon them in three days?

You see, what they were doing was disbelieving God. Oh, you say, “If God had done that much for me, then I don’t think I would disbelieve Him.”

Well, let me tell you something. God did something more for you than He did for them.

He let His darling Son die on Calvary’s tree for you.

And as God redeemed them by a little ol’ lamb that they took out of their flock, God has redeemed you by the Lamb of God—the darling Son of God, who hung in agony and blood upon the cross.

And as God brought them out through the Red Sea, God has brought you out of the land of sin. And God has saved you. And yet we murmur and we complain when we come to bitterness.

Does God have to keep proving His love to us over and over again?

Does God have to keep proving Himself to us over and over again?

I want to tell you, do you think that God brought them through the Red Sea to abandon them in the wilderness?

And do you think that God has saved you, and then He’s going to fail you? Do you think He is? I mean, the Bible says, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:8–9).

Much more—I mean, listen to how He saved us, and how much more is: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

You see, what was so bad about murmuring—my murmuring, your murmuring, our murmuring, anybody’s murmuring—what is so bad about it is that it roots in unbelief. It says, “God, you’re going to forsake us. God, you’re not going to take care of us.”

God had not brought them through the Red Sea to destroy them, and God has not saved you to abandon you. And that’s the reason the Bible says, in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 14—listen to it—“Do all things without murmurings” (Philippians 2:14).

I want to pastor a church with no murmurers in it, amen? I want to be a pastor that doesn’t murmur. I want a praise team that doesn’t murmur. I want deacons that don’t murmur. I want Sunday School teachers that don’t murmur. I want to be married to a wife that doesn’t murmur. I want to fulfill this scripture that says, “Do all things without murmurings.”

I want to tell you, some of you kids are complaining about your parents—“My mama … My daddy …”—and you murmur and complain about your parents. I want to ask you who gave you those parents. God did.

These people spoke against Moses. Who gave them Moses? God gave them Moses.

So when they murmured against Moses, they murmured against God.

And when you murmur against your parents, you’re murmuring against the God who gave you those parents.

Don’t you understand that? You murmur about your circumstance.

Well, I want to ask you a question. Have you been walking in the Spirit? Have you been obeying the Lord? Have you been led by that pillar of cloud and that pillar of fire? Have you? You say, “Yes.”

Then, how dare you murmur against your circumstances, for it is God who has led you where you are. And when you murmur against your circumstances, you’re murmuring against God.

You come to some bitter place and you come to some desert hole where the water is bitter, and then you begin to complain and murmur.

God help us when we do that! God help us to see that it’s a sin—a grievous sin—that God ranks with idolatry! God ranks with fornication and God ranks with blasphemy the sin of murmuring. “Do all things without murmurings.”

Amen? God, teach us not to murmur.

III. The Unseen Provisions of God

Now what I’m trying to say to you is this. I want you to see the unfailing providence of God: God led them where they were.

I want you to see the unknown purposes of God: they were there for a test.

Now I want you to see the unseen provisions of God. Look, if you will, back at this chapter again in verse 24:

Exodus 15:24 “24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

And, by the way, there you’ve got the two categories of persons: you’ve got the murmurers and the intercessors. There they were: murmuring, complaining, griping, and finding fault. They go to Moses. Moses goes to God.

There are some people who know how to complain, and there are some people that know how to pray.

There are some people who are part of the problem, and some people are part of the solution.

Thank God for Moses, who went to the Lord. They cried to Moses. Moses prayed to the Lord. I don’t know how long Moses had to pray. I don’t know how many prayers he offered. But I know that Moses was a man who knew how to get hold of God.

And look, if you will, in verse 25:

Exodus 15:25 “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. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them,”

The Lord showed him a tree. Now, friend, it was there all the time.

God knew it was there. God had planted that tree months, years, ago, or else God had supernaturally caused it to grow in a few minutes. I don’t know which. But from the time when they got there, there was the tree.

The Bible doesn’t say God created the tree. God just simply said, “Moses, you see the tree?” “Yes.” “Cut it down, Moses. Throw it in the water.” And when Moses took that tree and cast it in the water, the bitter water was made sweet. And the people were able to drink it, and they were able to survive.

Now, listen. What does that tree speak of? What does that tree represent?

First Peter chapter 2 and verse 24 tells us that Jesus Christ died upon the tree

To me, it speaks clearly and plainly about Calvary love and the power of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

It speaks to me of the cross of Christ: that no matter how bad my circumstances, no matter how bitter my experience, the love of God, explained and expressed by the cross of Jesus Christ, will sweeten that experience.

Now some of you say, “That’s just preacher rhetoric.” But you know the reason you feel that way? Because you don’t know about the cross. You don’t understand the love of God revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:24 “24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

I imagine some of those carnal people back in that day looked and said, “Here we are dying of thirst, and there’s Moses over there throwing trees in the water. How silly! How foolish that is!” And in their carnal reasoning it didn’t make any sense to them. But it was that tree that sweetened the bitter water.

You see, what happens is this, dear friend: that when we come to a place where we don’t understand what’s happening, and when everything seems to cave in—we go to the doctor, and the doctor tells us we have a malignancy; or we go to the bank, and the bank says you’re overdrawn; or we go to work, and the boss says, “You’re fired”; or we come home, and there’s a note pinned saying that the wife has deserted and she’s gone away; or our children run from us; or some other calamity happens—and we come to a place—a terrible place, a horrible place, a bitter place, something we can’t understand. Now we have a choice. At that time we can begin to murmur and complain and criticize. And we’ll probably find somebody around us to criticize. It may indeed be our pastor, our parents, our teacher, or somebody else. But, really, what we’ll be doing is criticizing God rather than going to God and seeing what God wants. And it’s at that time, dear friend, that, if you are a Christian walking in the Spirit, God’s going to bring you back to the cross. And God’s going to say, “My child, no matter what is happening, this is how much I love you.”

Do you understand what I’m saying? Do you understand? No matter what, no matter how bad it gets, you look at that cross. You see that Jesus died there in agony and blood. And I want to tell you, dear friend, there is power in Calvary. There is power in His blood over all the powers of sorrow, sickness, death, and hell. And sometimes that’s all God’s going to show you. He’s not going to show you anything else. He wants you to be shut up, so the only thing that you have to cling to is that cross. And you’ll find out that not only is it necessary, but it’s also enough to sweeten the bitter waters of life. You see, there was the unseen provision of God.

I want you to notice something. I want you to look at the end of this chapter. Look, if you will, in verse 27: “Then they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water …”—now, how many tribes were there? How many? Twelve. How many wells of water? An oasis for every tribe. Now, look—

Exodus 15:27 “27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.”

Here’s the amazing thing. Here they are complaining, murmuring, and finding fault, when right over the sand dunes—right over the hill—was an oasis and a bubbling spring for every tribe.

I mean, right over the hill! They didn’t know it. There was no way they could have known it. They didn’t have to know it. It wasn’t their business to know it. It wasn’t their worry to know it. All they had to do is make certain they kept their eyes on the pillar of cloud and that pillar of fire.

My friend, you don’t have to know the future; you just have to walk in the Spirit.

Understand what I’m saying. And if God, in His providence, and God, in His unfailing providence, brings you to the place of bitterness, He’s got you there for a test.

And He’s got you there not only for a test, but He’s also got you there for a lesson.

And He is there to show you that the same God that can bring you with might and miracle through the Red Sea is the same God that can take you in that place of bitterness, and that place of sorrow, and that place of frustration, and that place of misunderstanding. And there He alone will be enough for you. Just the tree, and that’s all.

Conclusion

But you say, “Pastor, if it’s all the same to you, I don’t want to just stay there at Marah.” I don’t think God wants you to, either. I don’t think God wants you to, either. God has more for you. God enjoys giving you His date palms. God enjoys giving you His oases. God enjoys His blessings. And I want to tell you, precious friend, right over the horizon God’s got an oasis for you. Did you know that? But He’s got a lesson He wants you to learn, first.

He wants you to learn that He’s enough. And God wants to bless you, but God will never let the victories of the Red Sea or the joys of Elim take the place of Himself.

And God’s going to bring you to a place where you don’t have these other things. God’s going to bring you to a wilderness.

God’s going to bring you to a place of sorrow and difficulty and bitterness.

And He’s going to show you a tree, and you’re going to learn that the tree is enough to sweeten the bitter waters of life. And you’re going to be able to say,

Galatians 6:14 “14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

And you’re going to find out that not only is Jesus Christ necessary: Jesus Christ is enough if you don’t have anything else.

What a wonderful story this is! The unfailing providence of God: He led them all the way.

The unknown purpose of God: He was proving them.

The unseen provision of God: there was a tree, and there were twelve springs of water.