God Cares for His Children
Hello again, and welcome back.
You know, I really look forward to our time together each week.
Say, do you remember what we talked about last week? Do you remember the place we visited?
That’s right, we visited the wilderness. In that wilderness God’s Son, Jesus, was tempted by the Devil to sin. But we saw how Jesus trusted in the word of God and resisted the temptations. We learned with the help of the Holy Spirit we can do the same thing. Because Jesus showed us how. A wilderness certainly can be a dangerous place. But it can also be a place where we learn to trust God.
One of the reasons the wilderness is so dangerous is that many times there’s little or no water to drink.
Which is why it’s a wilderness in the first place. No water means trouble for us. We need water to live. How many days do you think you could go without water? After three or four days without water our bodies would literally dry up. If you are planning a hike in the wilderness, make sure you take enough water.
There are several stories in the Bible that take place in the wilderness. Just about every one of them teaches us how God cares for His people.
One of my favorites is found in the book of Exodus. This story takes place in the wilderness of Shur. The children of Israel were led by Moses out into the wilderness because God wanted to teach His people a very important lesson.
Turn in your Bibles to Exodus 15. Our story begins in verse 22.
As we read, it helps to note that in Exodus 14 we read how God defeated the Egyptians. Remember how the Egyptian army chased Israel after Pharaoh let God’s people go? Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, CAN YOU IMAGINE! But when Pharaoh’s army tried to cross, God made the water come back right on top of them and they all drowned. It must have been a terrible sight to see but God defeated Israel’s enemies and delivered them from danger.
Then in the first part of chapter 15, Moses and the people of Israel sang a song of praise and thanksgiving. God had saved Israel by using His great power against the enemies of God’s people.
Then right after that song of praise and thanksgiving we come to our story about the wilderness.
Let’s pray and ask God to help us understand His word today.
“Dear God,
We know that the Bible is your word to us. So help us get all the wisdom we can and teach us all about Jesus so we can be just like Him.
We ask this in His name,
Amen.”
Let’s start reading in Exodus 15:22. We’ll read all the way to the end of the chapter. That would be verse 27.
If you want we can read along together.
Did you find verse 22? Good.
Here we go.
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no 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 grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, 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 diligently 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 diseases 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 encamped there by the water.
Right after God saved Israel from the Egyptians they started to travel through the wilderness. They went three days without finding any water which meant they were probably getting a bit thirsty.
On the third day they came to a place called Marah and they found water there. But some how they found out the water was bad. That’s what the name Marah means, bitterness.
Think about this.
God took them right to the place of bitter water even though they were thirsty and couldn’t drink it.
Now why do you think He did that? I think it’s because He had something to teach them. He wanted His people to learn that He was a God who cares for them. He wanted them to learn to trust Him even when things looked really bad around them.
So here’s their first lesson in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. When they found out the water was bitter they said, “That’s OK... God is going to take care of us. We’re just happy to be alive after the Egyptians chased us.” Is that what they said, really? Nope.
What does verse 24 say? Yep...they grumbled. They complained. They didn’t say....”hmmmm, what shall we drink?” What they meant when they spoke was actually…
“Hey Moses, what’s the big idea bringing us all the way out here into the wilderness without any water? Aren’t you God’s man, Moses? Where’s our water? Isn’t God going to take care of us? Is God even able to take care of us?” Even if they didn’t say all those words here at Marah we know what was in their hearts. In the following chapters in Exodus the people actually say very similar words in very similar situations. They didn’t trust God. But God knew that. His plan all along was to teach them that they should trust Him. He did this by having Moses do a miracle right in front of them.
Moses prayed to God, like He almost always did.
Then he picked up a log and threw it in the water.
This was a miracle because normally you don’t throw a log into water to make it drinkable. Usually you have to boil it or treat it with chemicals to make it clean enough to drink. But, not this time.
God wanted His people to see Him take care of them in a supernatural way. He wanted them to learn to trust Him even in difficult situations.
That’s because no matter what, God takes care of His people. And He expects His people to act like His people.
Look at verse 26 again. God told Israel...
"If you will diligently 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 diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer."
How do we diligently listen to the voice of God?
By reading and studying the Bible. Or by listening to someone teach the Bible just like you’re doing right now. But it’s not enough to just be a hearer of the word. The Bible says God wants us to be doers of the word also. We need to obey.
And one of the ways we obey is by not grumbling and complaining.
When dad or mom tells you to clean you room or work in the yard or do your homework, what should you do? You should obey. And not just obey but obey cheerfully. And thankfully.
That’s what makes God happy.
I want you think back over the past week. Did you complain about something? Maybe you didn’t say anything out loud but you complained in your heart. To God that’s the same thing because He knows our thoughts. He knows we sin in our thinking even before we do anything. If you did complain, how could you have been thankful instead? After the video, maybe you could talk about this more as a family. I’m thankful God forgives all our sin through Jesus Christ.
Jesus takes the bitterness of sin in our lives and changes us into something sweet and refreshing.
How does He do that?
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I don’t know about you but I would rather be something sweet to God...not something bitter.
Now…
I want to give you a little project to do that will help you remember this story and what it means. Parents you might remember me mentioning a literary device called a Chiasm. That’s where the author organizes the information in the story in such a way as to form a ‘V’ laid on it’s side.
I’ve included the list of the Chiasm. Here is what it looks like.
(A) Starting with a journey
(B) Developing to bitter water
(C) Leading to complaints by the people
(D) Central turning point: The Miracle
(C’) leading to instructions for the people
(B’) Resolving to sweet water
(A’) Ending with the culmination of the journey
(A) Starting with a __________
(B) Developing to __________
(C) Leading to __________ by the people
(D) Central turning point: __________
(C’) leading to __________ for the people
(B’) Resolving to __________
(A’) Ending with the __________ of the journey
I’ve also attached a copy with the blanks that you can fill in yourselves. You can use that or start from scratch and make the whole thing yourself.
I hope you have fun.
Thanks for listening.