The Lord tests His people
“Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea.” The word there is forceful, meaning Moses had to pull them up or to pluck them out. I love that because I would imagine the pillar of cloud started to move and the people did not budge. They had been on a mountaintop like we cannot begin to imagine. It was on this seashore that they had seen the hand of the Lord move in a powerful way and they responded with singing and dancing and worship like they had never done before. Then…Wait, we’re moving?! Why is the cloud moving? Moses! Where are you going and…why would we want to leave this place? We may have experienced something similar when we have a time with the Lord that is powerful and exciting. It happens sometimes on a Sunday morning. We hear His voice through the songs and the Word and we feel His presence and we do not want that moment to end. But it does and it always will until that which is faith becomes sight.
Besides that, God did not bring His people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea to leave them there. The promise He gave to Abraham was for a people and a covenant and a place. The Promised Land. They were not there yet. Neither geographically nor spiritually. Have the people learned to fully trust the Lord, no matter what? No. Have we? But the good news is what the Bible says: “He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Our position is forever in Christ. Our practical and daily reality is also that we are being sanctified. How does God do that with us? The same way He did it with them.
“And they went into the wilderness of Shur.” A wilderness in the Bible could be open plains that provided some grass for flocks but was mostly uninhabited. Or a wilderness could be a desert place, a sterile, sandy area that provided little sustenance for men or beasts. The wilderness of Shur was part of what is now Saudi Arabia. God led them from a mountaintop of sorts to a wilderness. He will lead them to several as they go from the wilderness of Shur to the wilderness of Sin to the wilderness of Sinai. They will face one challenge after another, from thirst and hunger, from enemies in the land, and from disputes with one another that will require Moses or others to settle them. They are being sanctified! God is raising up His children and that happens mostly through trials and tests. In fact, that is why the Lord led them to Marah in the wilderness, for “there he tested them.” They traveled for three days in the wilderness and found no water at all. That is a long time for families and children and livestock to be searching for water.
When they got to where the Lord wanted them to be, Marah, there was water! Two million people went to get a drink and to water their flocks, only to discover why this place was called Marah, which means “bitter.” The water was not drinkable. It was bitter, acrid, brackish. They could not drink it. Not because it was offensive to their palates, like city water is to any of us who have a well! Many people find city water undrinkable. My grandfather used to drive to my house when I was growing up and every week, he would fill up 4 or 5 gallon milk jugs with water, because he lived in the city. City water has helped a whole industry develop with bottled water in the stores and Brita filters in homes. But in Marah, this was not a palate problem or a preference. Otherwise all of those who could stomach the water would have shamed all the rest: “Suck it up, buttercup. There’s no sweet tea here. Just hold your nose and drink.” No. This was deadly water. Why would God lead His people through three days of no water to bring them to a place of poisonous water? To test them. And the irony cannot be missed. This is the Lord of all creation, the one who parted the Red Sea, a sea of water, and His people walked through it on dry ground. The Lord fought for them; they had only to be silent. Now they faced another test.
Will they who experienced God’s mighty power over the Red Sea and over their enemies now trust Him to give them a drink of water?
Will we who have been led from darkness to light, from death to life, from rebellion to adoption trust Him when we go through trials and tests?