Complimentary Story
May 2025“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. 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. And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ 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.” (Exodus 15:22-25).
The Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea, having witnessed one of the greatest miraculous deliveries the world has ever seen. The ten plagues that God afflicted the nation of Egypt with were not random plagues, but plagues which each challenged one of the false gods worshipped in Egypt. This series of ten plagues culminated in challenging Pharaoh, and the belief that he was a god, at the cost of every first born in the land of Egypt. Only those homes which applied the blood of the sacrificial lamb, as God instructed, to the doorposts of their homes would be spared the loss of the first born. This final plague introduced the feast of Passover, which foreshadows the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and His shed blood upon the cross of Calvary. It is in Christ and through the cross that we receive victory.
The final plague caused Pharaoh to relent and allow the Israelites to go free. However, like each time before, his heart was hardened, and he led his army in pursuit of the Israelites into the wilderness. The Israelites had camped at the Red Sea, and just when it looked as they had no way of escape from the pursuing army of Pharaoh, God miraculously parts the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites could cross on dry land. Once the Israelites reached safety on the other side, the walls of water collapsed on the pursuing army of Egypt, and they drowned.
You would think the Israelites would feel invincible because of their miraculous deliverance and victory at the hand of God. However as with every mountain top victory, there is a valley. So, what happens when the victory fades and the wilderness brings us into the dry seasons of our lives?
Something I found interesting while studying this passage is that “Shur” means “wall.” Have you ever hit a wall in your life, particularly in your walk with God? I am sure we all have. The people who knew they were helpless to rescue themselves on the other side of the Red Sea, the people who witnessed their miraculous deliverance by God’s own hand, now set out and seem to quickly forget the victory. It is easy to see their failures, but how frequently do we forget the victory and trust in ourselves and not in God? Who are you trusting in, is it God or are you SURE of yourself?
It is widely recognized that three days is as long as a person can go without water. The Israelites journeyed three days into the wilderness, unable to find water until they were brought to the point of death, only to discover the water was bitter and thus they could not drink it.
It was not until Moses was shown a tree by the Lord that the water became sweet. However the water did not become sweet until Moses obeyed and threw the tree into the bitter waters. The tree is an Old Testament picture of the cross.
The lesson for us is that we will face dry times in our walk with Christ. Even when we are led by the King of kings and Lord of lords, we will have times of dry wilderness wanderings in our faith. Some of those dry times will lead us to the breaking point, only to discover bitterness. There is no guarantee of an easy life as believers, in fact we are promised the opposite.
The Bible tells us, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (Timothy 3:12 ESV).
Like the oasis of twelve wells and seventy palm trees that the Israelites discovered at Elim after they left Marah, Christ has prepared a place for us beyond the dry times. The blessing in bitterness is the fellowship we have with Christ. There is no guarantee that the bitter waters will be taken away in this life. However, when we take the victory of the cross and insert it into the bitterness of our lives and of the situations we face, we will experience the sweetness that can only come from walking through life with the Living Water.
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