Life’s Bitter Pool

First, we’ll look at the climax of their miraculous deliverance. Exodus 15, verses 19 through 21:

“When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: ‘Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.’”

That really was a tremendous triumph, wasn't it? Israel had passed through the waters of the Red Sea miraculously, as if it was on dry ground. Then their enemy, the Egyptians, had followed them in, and God had brought back the waters over the Egyptians, swept them away, and put an end to that entire force of the enemy that was pursuing His people. Not one Egyptian survived.

I'm sure the Israelites concluded that now all their troubles were over, and the rest of their journey to the Promised Land would be easy and uneventful. As a result, they were unprepared for what lay ahead.

Now I’ll read the thing that followed after this tremendous deliverance. We’re still in Exodus 15, reading verses 22 through 24:

“Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah. In Hebrew, ‘Marah’ is the word for ‘bitter.’) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’”

Picture that scene for a moment. They’d experienced that glorious deliverance. They were triumphant, exulting. They felt everything was under God's control. And then it says, they were led into the wilderness of Shur, led by God through Moses. And in that wilderness, they went three days without finding water.

Of course, they had an emergency supply of water in their waterskins with them, but that must have been running low. The children and the cattle were beginning to become thirsty. They were all weary with the hot and dusty journey. And then in the distance, they saw the gleam of water in this pool called Marah. And I'm sure some of them started to run to get there to quench their thirst. But oh, what a bitter disappointment when they stooped down to drink. The waters were so bitter, they couldn't drink.

Now, the people were totally unprepared for that situation. They couldn't conceive that such a thing would happen to them when God was actually leading them, and when God had just granted them such a tremendous deliverance and victory.

The people were unprepared, but there was one person who was not unprepared, and that was God. And let me tell you, no matter how many times *we* may feel unprepared, God is never unprepared. God never has an emergency. God is never confronted with a situation that He doesn't have an answer to.

Now, the people grumbled, but one man, Moses, had the sense to pray. Scholars estimate there were probably something like three million Israelites there. Think of the noise of three million people all grumbling at one time. I'm sure it must have been hard for Moses to hear his own voice in prayer. But Moses did the sensible thing. He prayed, and this is what followed.

Now we’re in Exodus 15, verses 25 through 26:

“Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.’”

Two lessons stand out for me from this story of the bitter pool that we've just been looking at. The first lesson is: great victories prepare us for great testings. The fact that God has given you a tremendous deliverance, a tremendous victory, a tremendous blessing, a tremendous healing, whatever it may be, does not mean that the rest of your life is going to be without further testing. The greater the victory, the greater the test that you'll be able to face on the basis of that victory. That was Israel's mistake. They thought because they'd had this tremendous deliverance, nothing else could happen that would ever challenge their faith. Consequently, they weren't ready when they came to the bitter pool. Instead of praying, they grumbled.

The second lesson, and this is vital, is that the bitter pool was in God's program. God actually led them to the bitter pool. He had a purpose in bringing them to that bitter pool. And this is true in our lives. God, from time to time, permits us to be confronted with a bitter pool, but He has a purpose. Let me just give you a few contemporary examples of the kind of bitter pool that you and I may have to face.

The first example I think of is a broken marriage. Alas, how many people today have had to face that bitter pool of a marriage that ended in divorce, the bitterness, the agony, the embarrassment, the wounds that are left so deep in human personality. Another kind of bitter pool is a business failure. Perhaps you may have worked for years to build up some kind of a business, to establish yourself financially. And then, through circumstances you couldn't control, the economy changed, other things changed, and you find yourself just broke, maybe quite well on in life. That's a bitter pool.

Or you may have a health breakdown, a physical breakdown, or worse still, a mental or emotional breakdown. And now you're kind of putting together the broken pieces of a life that was strong and healthy and victorious. Another kind of bitter pool is disillusionment with a human leader. You followed somebody, you gave them your best in service. It may be a religious leader, it may be a political leader, or it might be a parent. And this person in whom you had confidence, whom you looked up to, suddenly one day, you realize they weren't what they seemed to be. They had feet of clay. They'd failed you. Your confidence was misplaced.

The question I'm going to ask you is, are you willing to learn the lessons God has for you in the bitter pool? If so, you need to listen to the rest of my talks in this series.