He's Already There
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22 Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water.
23 They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter—that is why it was named Marah.
24 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?”
25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there.
26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.
The Waters of Marah
The Waters of Marah
In Exodus Chapter 15
We find the children of Isreal singing a song of victory.
They had just crossed the Rea Sea on dry land.
Their enemy was at the bottom of a watery grave.
Moses starts to sing a song in verse 1 of this chapter
His siter Miriam grabs a timbrel
All the women start dancing
The sweet smell of victory is in the air.
Everyone is happy and full of joy up to verse 21,
They are still singing and dancing in verse 21
but then comes verse 22.
22 Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water.
It was a huge party on the other side of the Red Sea,
But then the man of God led them from the place of victory
out into the wilderness.
And the singing and the dancing and the shouting came to an end.
I wish we could have a power service every Sunday
I pray that we do every week
I wish we saw a miracle every time we prayed
But even when God parts the red sea for you
and makes a way through when there seems to be no way
and you shout and dance and sing about it
but then comes Monday morning
and you find yourself back in the wilderness
In a dry land without water.
This is very significant for two reasons.
First, they had just seen God move the waters of the Rea Sea
They know God has power over the water
So, it can be frustrating when we know God has the power of something
but yet we find ourselves facing it anyhow.
This God who can part the waters of the might Red Sea
Has now led us to a place where we have no water.
Be careful in those wilderness seasons.
The Devil wants you to blame God for it
He wants you to get frustrated with God
And oh how quickly we can go from singing and dancing after God brings us out
Only to start complaining against God because we’re thirsty for more.
Watch out.
God’s probably testing you.
There’s always a test after victory.
We see it over an over in the Bible.
They watched the walls Jericho fall by the power of God
and Then God tested them to see if they would take some of those idols with them.
And one man failed the test.
Jesus fed the 5,000
and then He fed the 4,000
and then his disciples got in a boat and said… oh, no, we forgot to bring bread.
What ever will we do???
Jesus is baptized by John
They hear a voice from Heaven
They see the Spirit descend like a dove
and what happens next…
Jesus is led out into the wilderness for 3 trials of the Devil.
I see it all the time in ministry
Someone gets a major victory
They pray through
They get delivered
Their Red Sea is parted
They sing, they shout
and I shout with them…
And then along comes the wilderness.
What now?
Do we keep singing?
Do we shout?
or do we complain.
God’s people in Exodus chapter 15
Were celebrating the miracle of the Red Sea
singing and dancing and shouting praises to God
but… verse 22 says, along came the wilderness.
And after 3 days without water,
The mood changed a little bit.
There was less singing
There was less dancing
There was more complaining.
You know that you can only survive around 3 days without water?
So, they were at their limit.
They needed water, and they needed it fast.
The second reason this is important is because
This is exactly what God did to the Egyptians.
Remember the 10 plagues?
What was the first one?
God turned the Nile river into blood
and the Bible says…
All the Egyptians could not drink the water for 7 days.
Somewhere in the back of their minds
Some of God’s people may have been wondering
If God did that to them
Maybe he is doing this to us.
And if that was their 1st plague
Are we about to go trough 9 more?
Because they had been 3 days without water
out in the wilderness
and when they finally find water…
23 They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter—that is why it was named Marah.
So, They came upon the waters of Marah, the Bible says.
dying of thirst
But the waters of Marah were bitter.
That is actually what Marah means. bitter.
Now the word “bitter” used here in the Hebrew is “mar-im”
and it can also mean poisonous.
Since it says that they could not drink it,
I tend to think that it wasn’t that they just didn’t like the taste of it.
If you’ve gone 3 days without water,
It wouldn’t matter what it tasted like
You’d give in and drink it.
But they could not drink that water.
Did they think God forgot about them?
After their Red Sea crossing
and seeing that miracle
did they think that God couldn’t save them now?
Either they lost trust in God’s ability
Or they they thought God had forgotten them
Or they thought God was punishing them
So, the people cried out to Moses in verse 24,
24 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?”
What are we going to do?
Notice the word “we”.
What are WE going to drink?
God has the power over the water
But somehow WE need to save ourselves this time.
And they cried out to Moses…
But Moses knew who to trust it…
In verse 25, Moses cried out to God.
The people cried out to Moses
but Moses cried out to God...
25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there.
So, they were tested there.
At the start of their journey.
After seeing a great victory at the Red Sea
They were taken to the wilderness to be tested
And the test was this:
Will you still Trust me?
I know what you are going through.
I know what you have need of,
I know what you need before you even ask me…
and I have the solution to your problem—al—ready—planted.
A tree doesn’t just spring up overnight.
No, a tree takes years to develop.
The Bible doesn’t tell us how old this Tree was,
but it wasn’t a seed
and it wasn’t a sprout
and it wasn’t a sapling
It was called a tree that they cast into the water.
So, we know it was being prepared in advance
whether it was 3 months or 300 years.
To cast a tree into the water,
it had to have been there for some time.
Because A tree is called a sapling after it is 3 feet tall
and it is not considered a mature tree until many years later.
It depends on the type of tree,
But it can take anywhere from 40 years
to 300 years for a sapling to become a mature tree.
That means, while they were all still slaves in Egypt
For perhaps decades even
A seed was slowly growing into a sprout
and that sprout was working its way up to 3 feet so that it could be called a sapling
And that sapling was reaching for the clouds for years to become a mature tree
and when God’s people finally arrived at the bitter waters of Marah
In desperate need of a drink of water
literally dying of thirst
They may not have made it one more day without water
but when they got to the end of their rope…
He was already there.
God had a solution to a problem that they had not even dreamed of facing
a solution that was growing for years before they would even need it.
They found themselves at the end of the line
and He was already there with a solution.
Can I tell you today
Jesus already knows what you are going through
He is waiting for you to come out on the other end
The solution to the situation you are facing today,
or even one you may face in the future
has already been solved by our Saviour
And he’s got something even better for you
when you make it through this test, trial, or storm...
But here is the key…
God brought you through the red sea
And you know he has the power over the water
So, instead of getting frustrated at God in the wilderness…
or Instead of thinking he has forgotten you.
or instead of thinking that God is punishing you…
Trust his word…
25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there.
26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”
Look closely at this verse.
Notice first of all that God reminds them to trust his word
I know what the devil said,
but the devil is a liar
God has not forgotten you
and God is not powerless over this current problem you are facing
TRUST GOD
will all your heart
And He will see you through any wilderness season you are facing.
And notice this in verse 26.
God said, I’m not going to do to you what I did to the Egyptians.
Remember the first plague in Egypt
was when God made the water undrinkable.
And they probalby thought God was about to deploy some frogs
or put boils on their skins
or put them through darkness
or take their firstborn sons
But God says… if you will trust me
I’m not going to let those things come on you
You might face some bitter water
but I’m going to do to you what I did to your enemy
Because one day
He is taking us to place where there will be no more sickness
We might be in the wilderness right now
but the promised land is around the corner
Look at the next verse…
In verse 27 it says:
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.
After their testing in the wildreness,
They came to a place with all kinds of water
But that was a future that they could not see
when they were 3 days without water
and staring at a pool of bitter water.
Someone here may be staring at that bitter water right now
wondering how do I get from here
where I have only bitter water
To over there
to the wells of Elim
where there are 12 springs of crystal clear water
Listen to me
You’ve got to Trust God in the wilderness
He alone has the answer
Don’t try to work it out yourself!
You will never think to put a whole tree into a pond
Why would that even work?
Why would you even think to put some wood in the water?
The solution to your bitter water isn’t even possible without God.
And HE’s been preparing the solution way before you even got to that bitter water.
Trust God!
When you get to the bitter waters of life
God’s already been there!
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
There’s no place you’ve gone
That Jesus hasn’t already been there
He was tempted in ALL points
But he never failed
We have all failed
And that’s why we must learn to trust in the one that has been through it all, but has never failed
He’s been there, and done that
and He’s got the t-shirt
and He’s just waiting for you to let Him take you through it with His help.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
That means, the solution to our sin
Was already there
He is at the finish line with the answer,
and it didn’t come a day late and a dollar short
It came 2000 years early
And even when the cross did come
It wasn’t a backup plan
It was God’s plan all along
The Bible says that He was Lamb slain from the foundation of the World.
Why?
Because God planned it before we even needed it
Before he made adam and Eve
Before they sinned
Before the fall
God had a plan
and that plan was Jesus.
When Jesus was on the cross
One of the last things that He said was in
46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Why have you forsaken me?
Be honest:
Have you ever felt that way?
Am I the only one?
I’m sure they felt that way when they tasted the bitter water after 3 days without any water
But why did Jesus say this?
He is God manifest in the flesh
And I’ve always taught that His body couldn’t die until God’s Spirit left it
and I do believe that is true
But there was something else to these specific words
They were not spoken by accident
Because To speak an words on the cross caused Jesus much pain
So we know every word was intentional
Have you ever heard someone humming a familiar tune
only to find yourself singing the chorus a little while later?
And they here you singing
and apologize for getting a song stuck in your head?
This is what Jesus was doing
He sang the first line to a thousand year old song written by David
1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?
When the Jews around the cross heard this,
they would have certainly recognized it
And, they would have finished the song in their head
Eventually they would come to part of that song that goes like this:
16 For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. 18 They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.
And hearing this, they would all realize what was happening.
They would have seen the Roman soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ clothing
And dividing it amongst themselves
and then look back up at Jesus with nails in his hands and feet
and thought..
Lord, You wrote about this day 1,000 years ago.
You see,
The cross wasn’t an accident
God had that solution in motion long before it happened
While we were still sinners…
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God demonstrated that He loved us
By giving us the solution to our sin
before we even needed it.
In other words...
He was Already There.
Closing:
Closing:
1 God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.
13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
4 God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life.
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
When you find yourself in trouble,
Or in need
or with questions
or hurting
or in distress
Know this for sure
God’s already there
And He isn’t just there to watch you suffer
HE’s there to help you.
He there’s to get you through this
Prodigal Son — if time permits
His father was waiting for him to return
