What is the solution for bitterness & bitter waters?
Exo 15:21-27 Miriam answered them, "Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea." (22) Then Moses led 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. (23) When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. (24) So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" (25) Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. (26) And He said, "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD 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, the LORD, am your healer." (27) Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.
So God has delivered Israel from the Egyptians, and they have this massive song in their hearts; but then they are led somewhere else by God. Here you have a completely different scenario. They have journeyed three days out from Egypt and the water which they brought with them from there has been used up. Gone is Egypt's provision. They have come out of Egypt and they are on their way to Canaan and God is now their guide. Egypt is behind them, and Canaan is in front but gone is all their ability to provide for themselves. At the moment we have a drought where I live, but the full effects of that is not really tested because we can still go to our tap and turn it on and out comes water. At present things are really hard for the farmer but there is still the provision of water. You can still shower at night and you can still turn the tap on and get a drink, but for the nation of Israel all of these things had gone. They no longer had the ability to draw water which they had in Egypt. They had food and water supplies with them, but after three days' journey it is gone. They hadn't been able to find any water at all. Humanly speaking it is possible to go three days without water, but then your body will start to break down. So all the things that they had depended upon back in Egypt are actually taken away from them and they have to learn to rely on God because He is their guide. So this is the first real test for the nation. The nation experiences thirst...and there is only One that can meet this need and that is God. When I was reading this I thought that is so true. When you are first saved you are really hungry for the things of God. The things of Egypt no longer have the same pull that they once had and you know that what you are actually looking for in life is not found back there. So the nation experiences thirst for the first time. They needed to thirst! It was necessary for them to come to know God. I was reminded of the words of Jesus when He said 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me and I will give him living water'. So here we have the first real test for the nation. What are they going to do?
(23) When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
When I used to work in the forestry in the summer, we wouldn't actually realize how much water we got through. We would easily need five litres per day just through physical work and sweating. We used to be away down in the blocks of trees and there would be these little stinky ponds where the water wasn't flowing and it would be an orangey brown colour. You were there with an empty bottle just looking at it. Some of the guys would actually drink it, because they needed it but I couldn't bring myself to do so because it just didn't look right. But it is really hard when you can see water and you need it, but can't drink it. So for the nation it was like this. The water was bitter. When I was thinking about this it interested me because if you remember they were led by God. So God is actually leading the nation to bitter waters. Whatever happened to the nation happened as an example to us. Every Christian will at some point go through bitter waters. You will be led into situations and scenarios that are not nice. It may be at the beginning of our Christian walk, in the middle or at the end, but at times we will go through bitter experiences. . For every Christian it is the same. It can be many things, such as the loss of a loved one. It can be persecution that can cause bitterness. It can be sickness. It can be wrongs that are done to you. You can be completely innocent, but almost like Joseph, have all of those sets of circumstances that happen to you and it doesn't seem fair. But this happens to you, and that happens to you and you are totally innocent but it just keeps rolling. Bitter experiences are going to come to every Christian, bitter waters. So it is really all about how you react to those scenarios. God had led the nation into this problem, so we shouldn't really expect anything different. In fact bitter experiences come to everyone, but God orders all things in our lives and he has some things that are tailor made for everyone.