Exodus 15:22-27

²² Then Moses pulled up Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the Shur desert. They went three days in the wilderness and could not find 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 complained about Moses, saying, “What will we drink?” ²⁵ And he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree, 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 carefully 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 maladies 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 set up camp there by the water.

bitter water test

When Penny and I go hiking on the Appalachian Trail, we always pack four liters of water, a water filter and purification tablets with us. We also plan each hike so that we pass by or camp near a water source each day. That water source is crucial, because without it, we could not go very far along the trail. If we run out of water, we have to turn back, no matter how beautiful the view.

The bitter water test was an opportunity for the Israelites to demonstrate their faith in and dependence upon the LORD. When the water at Marah turned out to be marah (bitter), the Israelites complained about Moses. As God’s chosen leader, he would get an ear full. But Moses did the right thing; he asked God for help.

The solution came in the form of a tree. It was not just a log, or a piece of wood. It was the very same word that Moses had used for the tree of life. It would have been the same word used for the cross. The point is that it was God’s solution to his people’s need. Obedience to God meant applying the tree to the problem.

Some people see this passage as some kind of legal guarantee from God that if we believe and obey him we will never get sick. Not so, even for the Israelites then. The LORD was telling them to trust him to be their doctor, and that if and when they encountered troubles (as they did at Marah) he would be there for them. What the LORD did promise was that if they faithfully obeyed him, he would not condemn them to the kind of judgments that the Egyptians had experienced because of their disobedience. Our days are wilderness journeys, and we should expect to be tested by hardship and illness and pain. Those tests are opportunities for us to seek the help of the one who promised to heal us.

LORD, we seek you help today. We know you are there, and our present hardships are not signs of your abandonment. Come to our bitter water today, and make it sweet.