Hole to Whole

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, 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; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

Exodus 15:22-27

Prayer

I remember this song back in the day. It was so laissez faire...

In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now

There was a satirical version of that song that came out like two days later, and probably describes the condition our people of Israel found themselves in:

You win the lotto; a change of luck

Walk outside and get hit by a truck

Now worry.....

Life’s crappy...

How did we get here?

The last time we met, we discussed how Joseph, through his various ups and downs of life - the flour and sugar seasons of his existence - ultimately led him to attain a position of influence, and brought his family into Egypt. Well, the descendants of Abraham were diligent about that “be fruitful and multiply” charge. They were multiplying so fast, that after Joseph died, and a new pharaoh was in place, this new ruler was like, “ummm… we have to find a way to slow this down, or else they’ll outnumber us and turn on us.”

New pharoah hatched these various plans to impede reproductivity. First, let’s work them to the dirt - they’ll be too tired to copulate. WRONG!!!

Then, he tried to enlist the help of midwives to kill the sons that are born. Midwives feared the Lord, so they weren’t about that life. They told pharaoh, these Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptians. They keep popping them out at unprecedented rates. By the time we get there, it’s too late!

Then pharoah issues a decree that all newborn boys are to be tossed into the Nile. Bottom line, he wasn’t a fan of the Hebrews. Generations after Joseph’s father and brothers came to Egypt, Moses arrives. The people of Israel had been enslaved for some 400 years before God uses Moses to lead his people to freedom, and out of the oppressive hands of Pharoah.

God had sent the plagues, and Pharoah was like the movie with the “sunken place” - GET OUT!!!

Then he changed his mind, like Trump on DACA, and came after them again. So here they are, at waters edge.. Chapter 14, verse 10 says:

Exodus 14:10–18 ESV

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” 15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Exodus 14:10–14 ESV

:10-

Down to 29

Exodus 14:29–31 ESV

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Exodus 14:29-

… So after witnessing the might of God and the love He has for His people (He did send the 10 plagues that served as the impetus for Pharoah to let them go, and performed one of histories most profound/amazing miracles, the parting of the Red Sea), being delivered from God’s enemies, God’s people now move toward a different set of trials: the lack of water.

Just a few days removed from this remarkable feat, rescue, and deliverance, here comes the grumbling again.

Did they not just forget how they grumbled and mumbled when at water’s edge, only to see God come through in the clutch?!! It had to have been fresh in their minds… How could it not? They were singing songs about it!!!

Exodus 15:1–12 ESV

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.

Exodus 15:1-

Exodus 15:18 ESV

The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

Exodus 15:

It tells us in verse 20, that the women bust out the tambourines and were dancing while Miriam sang.

do a little dance :)

We’ve done that haven’t we? That oppressive boss, who always making inappropriate comments towards/around you finally gets fired/reassigned… You’re high-fiving with the other co-workers.

That man you were with for all those years, helping him to build from the start… you find out he’s been cheating…

“I was yo lover and yo secretary...”

How many of us, coming out of a situation we knew was bad for us… we’d been praying for a better situation or even just deliverance from this one, now, found ourselves finally out of the predicament only to find yourself struggling? Things aren’t as rosy as we thought they were going to be...

Now we’re looking back at how things were, and thinking, “well, it wasn’t that bad… it didn’t kill me.” The volatile relationship you used to be in, the one your aunts and cousins had to help you get out of because you used to fear for your life.... Now, because you’re working two jobs only to struggle to pay for a quarter of the stuff you had while in the last relationship. You begin to groan and mumble about how good things used to be. Maybe you were being too hyperbolic on how bad the bad stuff was..

Or you find yourselves working jobs you know you had no business in - selling dope, working a pole, operating a boiler room, because it gives you the kind of easy money that allows you to have stuff. Forget about the occupational dangers, the constant looking over your shoulders, or the inability to sleep… Then finally, by the grace of God, you’re given an out. There’s an opportunity to work a legit job. You’re enthused, only to find out that starting from the bottom in this entry level position isn’t anywhere as lucrative as you thought. Selling a legitimate product is tougher to do when you can’t lie. You used to make a few stacks each shift at the gentlemen’s club. Now, you make just under that amount for the entire month! What. Do. You. DO.???

This is the very situation Israel finds itself in. After three days in the wilderness, coming off the most spectacular display of God’s might on their behalf, days into them making and singing songs about the victory, let’s see how the Israelites responded when they encountered their difficulties.

Exodus 15:22 ESV

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

Exodus 15:22–24 ESV

Exodus 15:

The first thing they did, upon experiencing the less than rosy situation, was complain… That’s some of us. God uses someone or something to help deliver us from a dire circumstance, and because things aren’t as good as we though they would/should be on the other side, we get to complaining about that person or thing God used in the first place. We don’t understand that it’s merely a vessel, and that God’s the one in control. If you have a problem, take it to the boss… I just work here.

Seriously, though, even in their complaint to Moses, they were implicitly complaining about God. So, I’d say this, a good way to delay the blessing (if not nullify it, altogether) that God has for you, is to sit there and complain about whatever it is you’re going through — especially after He just brought you out of something else! There are over a dozen stories in the Torah, where “murmuring/mumbling” is mentioned. There’s a reason why an 11 days journey took over 38 years!

Why were they murmuring? This same group that witnessed firsthand God’s judgement on the Egyptians (10 plagues), and their deliverance, once had enough trust in God to walk through the Red Sea with water sitting up like walls on either side.

Things got tight and tough, and instead of remembering God’s might and His faithfulness to His people, they complained. Don’t let it get lost here.. I get it, it was hot, rocky, and there was no water. But their real issue wasn’t thirst.. It was lack of faith.

They’ve seen firsthand what He could do. They weren’t relying on old stories passed down from generations. It was literally three days ago!!! What they did was focus on the problem, and not the Solution.

Point 1

I. Focus on Faith, not Fear

Where else did we see that?

Mark 4:35–40 ESV

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

Mark 4:35

Our God

I don’t know about you.. but if God had power enough over water to make it stand upright, and then crash on command, then I have to believe that He has enough control over water to deliver it when I most need it.

Focus on Faith, not fear

Back in , verse 25, Moses responds to their complaints:

Exodus 15:25–27 ESV

25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

2 final points here:

II. We should GO to God, not complain about Him

I have to imagine Moses was just as thirsty as the rest of the people. He didn’t argue with folks when they came to him, or call it “fake news.” This man of God simply went to God.

And like so many other areas in the Bible, God responds by first delivering His people, and then setting the standard. We see this in , when he tells Hosea to settle the debt his wife owes, first. Then set the standard.

Hosea 3:1-

Hosea 3:1–3 ESV

1 And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”

Back in Exodus, God provides the drinkable water, then issues a statute: listen, do right, and obey. Do those, and you’re good with Me. Don’t…

And I love the juxtaposition here between what He just did in sweetening (or making drinkable) the water, versus what He did in Egypt. Remember, he turned their drinking water into blood - pretty sure you can get sick drinking that. After setting the standard, God reveals His nature - Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals.

The Hebrew word for “heals” is used over fifty times in the OT. It’s uses range from physical healing, forgiveness, or restoration.

Main Point:

III.

III. God is the only one who can restore us and make us whole.

God demonstrated His nature by bringing them to Elim, where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees.

As Christians, we’re on a similar journey. Life isn’t easy, and we’re constantly going from one trial to deliverance, to another trial. But we must understand that the difficulties are allowed or directed by God for our good, but also that His power and glory may be shown through us. Unlike the Israelites in the wilderness, who had no clue what to expect from the promised land, we’ve been given a taste of our future glory through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is our Healer. But please understand, that physical, financial, career, relationship, an family healing isn’t the only thing we’re in need of. We need spiritual healing, and Jesus alone provides that.

So when you’ve been delivered from one obstacle, and now find yourself in the wilderness feeling dehydrated and see nothing but the bitterness of life ahead, don’t complain about God. When you’re feeling worthlessGo to Him! Cry out to the Lord, because you have faith that He indeed is your Jehovah-Rapha. And He’ll do you just like He did Moses. He’ll point to a tree....

Baptisms were going on for a long time… But water without the tree....

When I talk about healing and restoration. If it weren’t for a man, a God getting up on that tree… that fellowship with the Creator that was broken in the garden… the one broken everytime I sin.. There’d be no restoration.

So when you, like Moses, go to God, and He points to that tree… Grab hold of that tree, and carry your cross, and go into that bitterness, and let Him make it sweet for you!!!

They’re going to play some music, and the church is going to be in an attitude of prayer. If you’re dealing with the bitter water of life right now… You though you were on your way, but life has just been tough, and you’re wondering why God never answers you. It’s because your fellowship has been broken.

But there’s a healer that’s pointing to the wood. So come… turn your bitterness into sweet. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

2 Corinthians 13:11 ESV

11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.