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. 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.
And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet (Ex. 15:22-25).
This passage presents to us a very distinct and striking moment in the history of the people of Israel. We have — The First Three Days in the Wilderness, which lead to the trials of faith.
In this we learn what the world is now to us, as a place of trial and exercise of heart. Let us examine them in detail.
“They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.” One would suppose that all would now be well. God has wrought for us such a complete and glorious salvation, that we never should hear of sorrow more: He is about to bless us now all the way through. O, my reader, how many there are who are disappointed in this; who have started with the thought that all would now be well. Again we read, “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter” (Ex. 15:22, 23). The song of praise is changed into the murmurings of Israel!
Now, like other things in Scripture, the first moment, when anything is presented to us, gives to it its character onwards to the end. This is seen in these “first three days.” Was the wilderness to be like this all the way? Yes, reader, never to change! The only question is, “What the bitter waters are for each day?” not, “Shall they cease in the step which follows, or in days which come after, to the end?” Nay; they never cease here below! If the cross has redeemed our souls, we must take up our own cross, daily, and follow Christ to the end.
Alas, how many of us rejoice in that which the cross has wrought; rejoice too in hope of the glory: while we have not yet learned to glory in tribulations also by the way! How often, instead of tribulation working patience, it works impatience by our restless wills!
Here then is the picture of our circumstances — we can neither find the water; (or) not drink it when it is found. A Christian learns the joy of God’s salvation, and with bright and fervent step he starts on his journey; and trouble comes. Bad times set in; losses in business supervene; former friends become cold; employment is not to be had: his children have no bread. Something seeming to answer is found. It turns out “bitter water.” Deeper losses follow: or his employer takes advantage of his dependence to oppress; to use words to him which would not be permitted, were he not in his power. Perhaps the voice of slander is spoken in secret. His heart is crushed, yet his bread depended upon his work: his children and wife need daily food. It is Marah for that soul.
But the Lord showed Moses a tree and he looked upon it, and then He showed him how to use that tree, to make the waters sweet. How was this? We gaze upon the cross — the tree: we learn a new use for it now. It had cleansed us from our sins; and even our sinful selves had there disappeared, in redeeming love. God saw us by it “dead with Christ.”
But now we place that cross by faith in the bitter waters, and what ensues? We ourselves are gone! The old man that would resent the bitter circumstance, was crucified there; and we learn to accept our own death to all. We suppress the resentful reply to the bitter word. We “keep silence when the wicked is before us,” even though our “sorrow is stirred,” and our heart is “hot within us.” We bow to the lesson as the training of our God. We look up: we rejoice; we glory in the sorrow. The tribulation works patience; impatience vanishes; the waters are made sweet: we learn to hold ourselves as dead; our evil nature is suppressed, leaving room for the new man alone to act. We had learned the meaning of “Peace I leave with you”; that peace which Christ had made; we now learn “My peace I give unto you” — that rest of spirit when drinking the bitter waters made sweet, and we find rest under the yoke of Christ: we submit; nay, we glory in those very things — finding our joy in God alone; the waters become sweet by such divine alchemy.
These are the “trials of faith.” These are the lessons that teach us what the “world” is. And here I may say that the exercises of soul, which led to the discovery of our own helplessness, are not confined to those which preceded deliverance. I believe we have them, in other ways, all through our path. Where is the exercised soul who has not gone through such experiences as to all through which we pass? The gaining of our daily bread: the affairs of life: everything in fact, bears that in it in which we learn our own powerless condition. Then comes in another power, which is not of man, but which works in his conscious strengthlessness the “power of his resurrection.” And it is God who works in us by this, both to will, and to do of His good pleasure.