Exodus 15:22-2522So 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. 23And 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. 24And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25And 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: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, (Exodus 15:22‑25)EXO 15:22-2522So 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. 23And 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. 24And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25And 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: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, (Exodus 15:22‑25)
"They went three days in the wilderness, and found no water." One would suppose that all would now be well. God had wrought for us such a complete and glorious salvation that we never should hear of sorrow anymore. He is about to bless us now all the way through. 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. 15:2323And 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. (Exodus 15:23). The song of praise is changed into the murmurings of Israel!
Was the wilderness to be like this all the way? Yes, never to change! The only question is what the bitter waters are for each day, not shall they cease in the days which follow until the end of the journey. May 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.
How many of us rejoice in that which the cross has wrought, rejoice too in hope of the glory, but we have not yet learned to glory in tribulation by the way. How often instead of tribulation working patience, it works impatience by our restless wills.
Here we have a picture of our circumstances. We can neither find the water nor drink it when it is found. Trouble comes, bad times set in, losses in business supervene, former friends become cold.
Something which seems to answer is found, but it turns out to be "bitter water." 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; even our sinful selves had there disappeared in redeeming love. God sees us "dead with Christ" by it. But now we place that cross by faith in the bitter waters, and what ensues? Self is gone and the old man that would resent the bitter circumstance is 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 may be stirred or our heart may be hot within us. We bow to the lesson as the training of our God. We look up and rejoice; we glory in the sorrow or in the reproach.
The tribulation then works patience; impatience vanishes and 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 learn the meaning of "Peace I leave with you." That peace is that which Christ has made. We now learn "My peace I give unto you." We have that rest of spirit when drinking the bitter waters made sweet and we find rest under the yoke of Christ. We submit, 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. Where is the exercised soul who has not had such experiences through which we all pass? The gaining of our daily bread, the affairs of life everything in fact, bears that in which we learn our own powerless condition. Then comes in another power which is not of man, but which works in his conscious weakness, the "power of His resurrection." It is God who works in us by this, "both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
E.G. Patterson