Exodus 15
Exodus 15:1-27 (NLT)
1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him—my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
3 The LORD is a warrior; Yahweh is his name!
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and army he has hurled into the sea. The finest of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
5 The deep waters gushed over them; they sank to the bottom like a stone.
6 “Your right hand, O LORD, is glorious in power. Your right hand, O LORD, smashes the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow those who rise against you. You unleash your blazing fury; it consumes them like straw.
8 At the blast of your breath, the waters piled up! The surging waters stood straight like a wall; in the heart of the sea the deep waters became hard.
9 “The enemy boasted, ‘I will chase them and catch up with them. I will plunder them and consume them. I will flash my sword; my powerful hand will destroy them.’
10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 “Who is like you among the gods, O LORD—glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders?
12 You raised your right hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies.
13 “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home.
14 The peoples hear and tremble; anguish grips those who live in Philistia.
15 The leaders of Edom are terrified; the nobles of Moab tremble. All who live in Canaan melt away;
16 terror and dread fall upon them. The power of your arm makes them lifeless as stone until your people pass by, O LORD, until the people you purchased pass by.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain—the place, O LORD, reserved for your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
18 The LORD will reign forever and ever!”
19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers rushed into the sea, the LORD brought the water crashing down on them. But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground!
20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine and led all the women as they played their tambourines and danced.
21 And Miriam sang this song: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.”
22 Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water.
23 When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).
24 Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded.
25 So Moses cried out to the LORD for help, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that the LORD set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him.
26 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
27 After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.
It is essential to maintain focus on the incredible demonstrations that have already made a way possible only through God’s power and might. It’s amazing how quickly spirits and moods can digress from rejoicing in victory to complaining and despairing when the next possibility of defeat arises. You would think the people could have made it more than three days without turning against the One who had just brought them through the sea and destroyed their enemy. The dance and the song soon turned to a whine and a trudge as soon as water was scarce. The problem with this is that the answer to the next issue is right where the last answer was found, in trusting and responding to the Lord’s leading. For Israel, simply throwing some wood into the bitter water transformed it into good water. This would not have been known, though, apart from revelation Moses found when he cried out to the Lord. The nation was still in desperate of this man who defied all natural responses to seek out the supernatural in God’s presence.
Especially in the time of greatest adversity, if there can only be a return to the place of deliverance in God’s presence. Rather than fixating on the mountain looming before, there can be a remembrance of that mountain already immersed because of God’s faithfulness. Instead of despairing and running away from the very One who will save and deliver, it is possible to gain immediate access to His overwhelming power and insight by letting the cry be to Him and not elsewhere. Only in the immediate return to the Presence can one expect a different end than the threatening one.
This is so exciting and humbling. How quickly we humans can forget that the Lord is the way of escape in all things. This chapter is do interesting and exciting. There is the mighty demonstration of power but the people quickly become as bitter as the bitter water. How amazing is it that when Moses sought God, the Lord revealed a simple stick, already there, by the water that which when placed in the water made the water drinkable, it helped heal the water making it sustainablefor life and living! Then the Lord goes on to give a word on healing! He has provided it all! He makes ways of escape that once we are listening, heeding, obeying, it’s all right there, He makes it known and we humble and submit to Him for the answer. How interesting that what probably seemed unreasonable to the people was the way of God to provide what was necessary. His ways are higher than ours. I like to imagine that bark of the stick was just as bitter and so it was like treating like, a way to root out bitterness in exchange for trust.