Following Israel’s escape from Egypt, they set out for the promised land, hearts set on the land flowing with milk and honey. However, Yahweh led them to make several stops before they reached their destination. He had a purpose for this in-between time — to teach them to be sons and daughters who worshiped and trusted their heavenly Father wholeheartedly.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."
Deuteronomy 6:5 CSB
God, quite literally, led His children during this time:
"The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night."
Exodus 13:21 CSB
One might expect that with God leading His children, the path would involve little difficulty. On the other side of the sea, the children of Israel were excited to be free. They rejoiced in their God and Father, thanking Him for protecting them from Pharaoh and providing a way of escape. But the tune to their song of worship had barely come to an end before God led them where they least expected to go: the wilderness, where there was no water in sight. They might have been tempted to ask, Did the pillar of cloud take a wrong turn?
Since water is essential for survival, walking through a wilderness without water meant they would certainly die. God didn’t allow them to go just one, or even two, but three days without seeing water or tasting it on their tongue. We understand their concern, don’t we? They were brought to a hard place where their basic needs went unmet.
And just when things seemed at their most bleak, they got bleaker. When they finally found water in Marah, it was too bitter to drink. In the moment, they questioned and whined about whether God would or could give them water to drink. God created the water in the Red Sea and parted it to deliver them from Pharaoh; certainly, He could provide water to satisfy their thirst. God didn’t deliver them from slavery only to die days later in the wilderness. However, the Israelites responded in a manner we can likely identify with. Instead of trusting in God and calling on His name, they whined, grumbled, and were filled with distrust.
Whining Versus Crying Out
When God is your Father, how you cry shows what you believe about Him. Whining often fails to consider the character or resources of the one giving care. Rather than highlighting the caregiver, it underlines the care. Whining and grumbling were Israel’s reflex (see Ex. 14:12), and it showed their lack of faith in the Lord. God’s expectation is for His people to place their faith in Him.
Moses responded differently from the Israelites who grumbled. He, too, had not had water, and yet rather than complain, Moses appealed to God for help:
"So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable.
The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there."Exodus 15:25 CSB
Moses’ cry is that of a child who remembers the care of his Father, because, while it was desperate, it was faith-filled. Moses cried out to the Lord on behalf of the Israelites, and God miraculously provided a tree, which, once thrown into the water, purified it so they could drink.
God establishes His first ordinance right here, pointing to the law to come. The word would be the catalyst for healing. “He said, ‘If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you’” (Ex. 15:26).
God declared He was Yahweh Rapha, the Lord Who Heals, their great fatherly Physician. When we know our Father’s name as Healer, we know He can bring healing to bitter waters, not only making them digestible but delightful.
This passage also points ahead to Jesus Christ, who cried out to His Father as He mediated for God’s people. It was through a different tree — the cross — that Jesus was able to purify a people for God, allowing us to receive living water and fulfill God’s law (see Matt. 5:17-20). Because of this, we know God as our Father, sometimes as our physical healer, but always as our eternal sin-healer.
The presence of God was the Israelites’ sanctuary in the wilderness, and it is ours too. God’s presence guided them as it does us. The One whom we obey and love heals us and prepares us for our current wilderness and ultimately our promised land — His eternal kingdom.
Take an inventory of your bitter circumstances. How might your Father be working in you through them? Is there anything you need to ask God to heal?