The Sweet Providence of a Bitter Place Text: Exodus 15:22-27
Introduction: From Song to Sighing
The people of God had just witnessed the greatest deliverance in human history. The armies of Egypt, the mightiest empire on earth, were drowned in the Red Sea. Israel walked through on dry ground. In response, they sang one of the most glorious songs of victory in all of Scripture. They sang of Yahweh, a man of war, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Their feet were still damp from the miracle, and the song was still on their lips. And then, three days later, they were grumbling.
This is the rhythm of the Christian life. We are not delivered from our Egypt to be immediately transported to a celestial lounge chair. We are delivered from bondage in order to be tested in the wilderness. The wilderness is God's schoolhouse, and the curriculum is demanding. Our modern, sentimental Christianity has a hard time with this. We want the victory without the march, the crown without the cross, and the oasis without the desert. We think God's goodness is measured by the absence of trouble. But the Bible teaches us that God's goodness is demonstrated in His faithful provision right in the middle of trouble. The journey from the Red Sea to Marah is the journey from justification to sanctification. It is a necessary journey, and the first lesson is that God will lead you to bitter places in order to teach you that He is sweet.
This passage is not just a historical travelogue. It is a foundational lesson in how God deals with His people. It establishes a pattern: a real need, a human failure, a divine test, a surprising remedy, and a covenant promise. If we do not learn the lesson of Marah, we will spend our entire Christian lives grumbling our way through the wilderness, never tasting the sweetness of God's provision or resting in the shade of His promises.
The Text
Then Moses had Israel set out 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 they came to Marah, but they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" Then he cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He set for them a statute and a judgment, and there He tested them. And He said, "If you will earnestly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, Yahweh, am your healer." Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.
(Exodus 15:22-27 LSB)
The Test of Bitter Water (v. 22-23)
We begin with the immediate aftermath of the victory celebration.
"Then Moses had Israel set out 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 they came to Marah, but they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah." (Exodus 15:22-23)
Notice that God, through Moses, leads them directly into this trial. This is not a miscalculation or a wrong turn. The pillar of cloud and fire is leading the way. God's sovereign will for His people included three days of thirst. This is a severe test. After three days in a hot desert, the lack of water is not an inconvenience; it is a life-threatening crisis. This immediately confronts our theology of comfort. God is more interested in our holiness than our hydration, or rather, He uses our need for hydration to teach us about our need for holiness.
And then, the apparent answer to their prayers becomes the source of their deepest disappointment. They find water, but it is bitter. The name of the place, Marah, means bitter. This is a profound picture of the fallen world. We chase after things we believe will satisfy our deepest thirsts, a career, a relationship, a material possession, and when we finally get there, we find the waters are bitter. The world promises satisfaction but delivers Marah. God led them here to teach them this very lesson: do not trust in the provisions of the wilderness, trust only in the God of the wilderness.
The Cancer of Grumbling (v. 24)
The people's response to this test is immediate and sinful.
"So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'" (Exodus 15:24)
Grumbling is not the same as a lament or an honest cry for help. Grumbling is the voice of unbelief. It is a formal accusation against God's character, disguised as a complaint against His appointed leader. They had just seen God obliterate the Egyptian army in the sea. Did they really think He was unable to provide a cup of water? Of course not. Their grumbling revealed that the song they sang three days prior was shallow. They praised God for what He did, but they did not yet trust who He is.
This is the constant temptation for the people of God. When circumstances are bitter, we are tempted to believe that God is bitter. When His providence is mysterious, we are tempted to believe He is malicious. Grumbling is practical atheism. It is to look at a problem and act as though God does not exist, or as if He is not good. And notice they attack Moses. This is a standard tactic of the rebellious heart. It is easier to attack the visible instrument of God's authority than to shake your fist at the sky. But God takes all challenges to His delegated authority personally.
The Cross-Shaped Remedy (v. 25a)
Moses' response is the polar opposite of the people's. He models true leadership.
"Then he cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet." (Exodus 15:25a)
Moses takes the grumbling of the people and turns it into a prayer to God. He intercedes. He stands in the gap. He does not join their sin or rebuke them in his own strength; he cries out to the only one who can solve the problem. And God's solution is profoundly strange and deeply theological. He does not strike a rock to bring forth fresh water, not yet. He does not purify the water with a word. He tells Moses to take a tree and throw it into the bitter pool.
This is one of the clearest pictures of the gospel in the book of Exodus. What is a tree in the economy of God? It is a symbol of the curse. "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). The cross of Jesus Christ was a tree. It was the place of ultimate bitterness, where the Son of God was made a curse for us, drinking the full cup of God's wrath against our sin. And what God demonstrates here at Marah is that the instrument of the curse is the only thing that can make the bitter waters of our life sweet. When you, by faith, take the cross of Christ and cast it into your bitterest providences, into your Marah, that is when God performs the miracle of making it sweet. The cross does not remove the suffering, but it transforms it. It gives it meaning. It turns the poison into medicine.
The Covenant of the Healer (v. 25b-26)
God uses this miracle as a teaching moment, establishing a foundational principle of His covenant.
"There He set for them a statute and a judgment, and there He tested them. And He said, 'If you will earnestly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God... I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, Yahweh, am your healer.'" (Exodus 15:25b-26)
Marah was a test, and the statute God gives them is the key to passing future tests. The principle is this: obedience to the voice of God is the pathway to the blessing of God. The conditions are clear: listen, do, give ear, keep. This is not a legalistic formula for earning salvation. This is the description of a redeemed people. Those who have been saved from the Egypt of sin will desire to walk in the statutes of their Savior. The law is not a burden to be endured; it is a gift from a loving Father who knows how we are to live.
The promise is covenantal health. The diseases of Egypt were the judgments of God on a rebellious and idolatrous nation. God promises to protect His covenant people from these covenant curses. This is not a blanket promise that Christians will never get sick. It is a national, covenantal promise that as Israel walks in obedience, they will not suffer the same kind of judicial plagues that God uses to dismantle pagan civilizations. At the heart of this promise is a new revelation of God's name: Yahweh-Rapha, "I, Yahweh, am your healer." He is not just one who heals; healing is His very nature. He heals bitter water, He heals diseased bodies, and ultimately, He heals sin-sick souls. All healing flows from Him, through the tree of His cross.
The Grace of the Oasis (v. 27)
The final verse shows us the heart of God. The test is not the final word.
"Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters." (Exodus 15:27)
After the trial of Marah comes the triumph of Elim. God leads them from the place of bitterness to a place of abundant rest. And the numbers here are not accidental. There are twelve springs, one for each tribe of Israel. There are seventy palms, one for each of the seventy elders of Israel who would soon be appointed. This is a picture of God's perfect, ordered, and sufficient provision for all His people. He has enough grace for every tribe.
This is the rhythm of God's grace. He leads us through Marah in order to lead us to Elim. The test is designed to prepare us for the rest. He teaches us dependence in the place of lack so that we can enjoy His abundance with grateful hearts. If they had arrived at Elim first, they would have taken the water and shade for granted. But having come through Marah, the sweetness of Elim was magnified a hundredfold. God knows what He is doing. The path to the oasis runs directly through the desert.
Conclusion: Casting the Tree into Your Marah
Every one of us will come to Marah. Many of you are there right now. Your marriage is bitter. Your job is bitter. Your health is bitter. Your soul feels dry and your circumstances are a deep disappointment. The temptation is to grumble, to lash out at those around you, and to accuse God of being a poor guide.
The lesson of this passage is your instruction manual. First, do what Moses did. Cry out to Yahweh. Take your complaint directly to the throne of grace, not to the court of public opinion. Second, look to the tree that God has shown you. Look to the cross of Jesus Christ. By faith, you must pick up that bloody tree and cast it into the middle of your bitter circumstances. You must say, "God, I do not understand this, but I know that the same love that held Christ on the tree holds me in this trial. I know that the power that raised Him from the dead is at work in this bitterness for my good."
When you do this, the waters will not necessarily change, but they will become sweet to you. You will begin to taste the grace of God in the trial. You will learn the lesson He is teaching you. You will come to know Him not just as Yahweh the Deliverer, but as Yahweh-Rapha, your Healer. And you can be assured that just beyond your Marah, He has an Elim prepared for you, a place of rest and abundance. He will not leave you in the desert forever. Trust Him in the bitter place, and He will bring you to the sweet place in His perfect time.