What We Can Learn in the Wilderness, The Lessons of the Bitter Water at Marah Part 6

Nov 19, 2023    Mike McGovern

What We Can Learn in the Wilderness 


The Lessons of the Bitter Water at Marah Part 6


“So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you” (Ex. 15: 22-26) NKJV


“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin… I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; (Rom. 7: 14, 18).


“…where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all…There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Col. 3: 11; Gal. 3:28).  


Him being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Lk. 22:44).


“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23)


Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls”… comes just before the part “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb. 12: 3, 5-6).


to those who are trained by it” (Heb.12:11).


“If the world hates you, you know it hated Me before it hated you. If you are of the world the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world…I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you: (John 15:18-20).


“Whoever therefore wants to be a friend with the world makes himself the enemy of God” (James 4:4)


 “works all things after the counsel of His Own will” (Eph. 1:11).


“Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go” (Isa. 48:17).


“THEN they cried to the Lord” (Psalm 107: 4-6,12-13, 18-19, 27-28)


“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities” (Psa. 103:10).


“…one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5), for


“…Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When He was hung on the cross, He took upon Himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the scriptures, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Gal. 313) NLT.


“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:31-32) NKVJ


“were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Cor. 10: 11).  


a special treasure above all people, a holy nation filled with kingdom priests (Ex. 19: 5-6)


“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).


“…even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine” (1 Peter 1:6-7) TEV.


“…there He tested them” (Ex. 15:25). NKJV


“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties. And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23-24).


. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19).


“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk. 1:15).


“…the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" (Ex. 15:24).


“My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb” (Gen 22:8).


“…and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet” (Ex. 15:25).


. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence” (Col. 1:15-18)


“For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth… moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 5:7-8; 10:1-4).


“…the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect” (10:1).


“Which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Col. 2:17).


“These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ” BSB


“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Lk. 24:25-27); NKJV


“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Lk. 24:44-45). 


“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree") Gal. 3:13.


“root of bitterness” (Heb. 12: 15)


“He calls out to God” (Ex. 15:25)


“I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. … (Ps 34: 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17. 19).


"The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27).


“For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You" (2 Chron. 20:12)


“In Him will live and move and have our being (Acts 17: 28)


We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up” (Num. 11:5).


The Lord who heals you” (15: 26)


“if you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you" (Ex. 15:26)


“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).