The Life of Moses (11)

It was a wonderful deliverance that the Lord had given to Israel. They walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea. When they all had come safely to the other side of the sea, they sang a song to praise the Lord for what He had done. Israel rejoiced, but they were not yet in Canaan. It was but the beginning of the wilderness journey. After rich comforts in the life of God’s Church, sometimes heavy trials follow.

We read in verse 22, “So Moses brought 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.” They traveled in the desert, not led actually by Moses but by the pillar of cloud and of fire.

Israel murmured

It was not the way of their own choice but God’s faithful hand that was leading them in a way of trial. In this desert there was no water, and the supply they may have taken along out of Egypt was soon gone. What must it have been for caring parents to hear their children complaining of thirst and then to say, “My child, there is no water anymore for you.” The second day was bad, but the third day of traveling was worse, and there was no solution for their needs. We read in verse 23a, “And when they came to Marah.” Finally, they saw water—it was not a mirage as one may sometimes see in hot deserts; no, it was real water. That sight must have made the weary travelers hasten to drink of what the Lord had provided. However, we read, “They could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.” What a disappointment! They were at the end of their strength; here was water, but they could not drink it.

Now, praising the Lord by the Red Sea gave place to complaining by Marah. They forgot that they had been led by the pillar of cloud and of fire; they murmured against Moses (verse 24). We read in Psalm 106:13, “They soon forgat His works; they waited not for His counsel.” The Lord knew that Israel would be a stubborn, rebellious people. It was His wisdom also to have prepared Moses for this task because he needed much patience and meekness with Israel. No, there was no reason in Israel that the Lord set them apart from other nations and that He would fulfill His promises to them. Faith was failing; their eye was no longer upon God. God’s Word is clear about what His people are and remain after all the benefits given unto them. He would prove them, test them, in the wilderness. God’s children are all wilderness travelers and the Lord often leads them in ways in which they are tested. He knows what lives in their hearts, but He also wants to teach them that salvation and preservation are solely His work. He does not do it for their sakes but for His great name’s sake. We often read in Psalm 107, “Then they cried unto the LORD.”

Here, Moses was a mediator, no, not of salvation or redemption, but of intercession. We read in verse 25a, “And he cried unto the LORD.” Foolish and rebellious travelers, in sometimes incomprehensible ways, need One greater than Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ. We read of Him in Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” The apostle also speaks of Him in 1 John 2:1, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The Lord heard the cry of His servant. He is still the same God: He hears the needy when they cry.

A remedy shown

God used a simple instrument, “and the LORD shewed him a tree.” It was just a piece of wood. It was there, but it had to be shown to Moses; it had to be revealed. What did this tree signify? What was God’s instrument in giving deliverance? There have been different ideas about the meaning of this tree. However, it was not, as some say, a piece of wood with sweetening power. It was the Lord who used this piece of wood to display His almighty power. What does the Lord use to lift up the weary burdened traveler through the wilderness of this world? How does He strengthen what is weak and comfort what mourns, instruct what does not know the way, and give joy and rest to struggling pilgrims? He uses His Word, but that Word then needs to be opened, and what is hidden needs to be revealed. How unexpectedly, at His time, which is always the best, He answered the cries of a needy people.

There was One who would thirst on Calvary’s cross. For Him there was no refreshment; His Father was the Judge who demanded satisfaction of His justice. Oh, how bitter was the cup of God’s wrath that He had to empty, and how willing He was to do this in order to glorify God’s attributes but also to quicken, to lead, and preserve His people, His bride. Now there is balm in Gilead for all the wounds, for circumstances of body and soul. We read of Christ in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” This cross of Christ makes the bitter sweet. The apostle said of Him in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” This has been and will be the experience throughout all the ages. It was so with Paul and Silas in the stocks, their backs bleeding, but singing praises. Acts 16:25 tells us, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”

We read of that tree, that piece of wood which “when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” This was experienced by the wilderness travelers.

Gracious healing

When Moses had cast the tree into the water, the bitterness was taken away. Oh, when that Word is opened, when an eye of faith may behold the suffering Christ, that which was bitter becomes sweet, for there is healing, “I am the LORD that healeth thee” (verse 26b). Nothing is impossible with Him! He heals in various ways:

a) By changing our circumstances in His providence.

b) By giving some encouragement, some balm to His people, or strength to bear.

c) By giving more satisfaction with His will as Eli said after Samuel’s message to him, “It is the LORD.”

d) He may prevent the evil they fear and can heal also from bodily infirmities.

e) He is especially the Healer of souls. We are full of leprosy and need a supernatural work.

We must be born again, not only learning to know our misery and the impossibility from our side but also needing to have our eyes opened for the Saviour and to be drawn irresistibly unto Him. There is a resting place in His mediatorial heart. There we may take up our cross again, trusting in Him, following Him as Israel did the pillar of cloud and of fire.

The purpose of God’s dealings with Israel was to glorify Himself as the only One who would save and deliver them. “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is the fruit of His work by which man is shown his own foolishness, but God’s free grace and His faithful care will be glorified.

(To be continued)

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