Sweet Water of Life
Exodus 15

The LORD delivered the children of Israel out the bondage in Egypt with His mighty hand. What a demonstration of His sovereign power as Israel walked on dry land across the Dead Sea with the waters held back like a wall on either side.

After they had crossed the Red Sea, they broke forth singing the first recorded song of redemption in the Bible (Exodus 15). The result of God's deliverance was fear of the Yahweh and great rejoicing in Him. Three days later in the wilderness "the people grumbled at Moses". Who led them to Marah? They were led there by the Pillar of Cloud. Their murmuring against Moses was, in reality, murmuring against Yahweh! What was the cause of their murmuring? Their eyes were no longer upon God.

Three days into the wilderness they found no water. And when they came to Marah, the water was so bitter that they couldn't drink it. God uses the "marahs" in our lives to remove all our false securities one by one so we will trust in Him alone. Sin also makes our waters in life become bitter as gall. What makes your experiences so bitter and distasteful, blasted and filled with broken promises? Do you experience wounds that ache, and injuries that fester and infect the memory? Do you find yourself in the midst of a hot desert and the bitter waters of Marah will not sooth your parched life? The people in the wilderness of Sin grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" They failed to reason that if Yahweh can hold back the walls of water in the Red Sea can He not provide water. Moses "cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.

God revealed Himself at Marah as Yahweh Ropecha, "I the LORD, am your healer." The word for "healer" means "to restore, to heal, to cure, or a physician." He not only heals physically, but morally and spiritually. "The LORD your God heals." The word means "to mend," like the mending of a torn garment. It has the idea of repairing as being reconstructed and to cure as a diseased person is restored to health. "The LORD is the physician."

We all come to life with a need of healing. Our waters become bitter as gall. Is there one who can bring healing to our broken lives? Have we learned how to make the bitter waters in our lives sweet? What changes the bitter experiences of your life in to the sweet fragrance of life?

Jesus is both the tree and the waters. "He (Christ) bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus alone brings spiritual healing to our broken lives. The tree of the cross is the only balm that can sooth our broken hearts and cleanse us from our sins. The cross of Christ sweetens the Marah's of life. He turns the cross into the tree that gives life.