Exodus 15:22-27 (NIV- 1984)
The Waters of Marah and Elim
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they travelled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
In the Exodus story of the Bible the people of Israel (the first people in the Bible to have a special relationship with God), had just escaped from Egypt.
Egypt was for them the land of slavery. Moses their leader, a kind of old and mystical Prophet, had commanded the Sea, which blocked the Israelites in Egypt from reaching the desert, to separate and it had opened wide. So wide that the people of Israel could walk right across it – tens of 1000s of them, families, animals, children and old – ALL of them crossed the floor of the Red Sea as the Egyptian armies and charioteers rushed to catch up with them. Finally, as the last of the Israelites crossed onto the other side, the waters collapsed back into the sea and the Egyptian armies were drowned.
The Israelites were jubilant! Moses and his sister Miriam in particular – their God, this mysterious, supernatural force and personality called – YHWH – or “Iam what Iam” had delivered his people out of arduous slavery. Moses had found YHWH difficult to believe at first, but he had obeyed this God and now God had showed him right in front of all the Israelites. God had proved himself, by delivering the Israelites out of Egypt into the Wilderness.
Moses and Miriam are so jubilant that they turn to song and sing out the glories of this Holy God and the story of how he had transferred the people of Israel out of a land of hard, routine, relentless labour into a land of freedom.
But freedom quickly brings its own problems…
…and although this God had enabled them to be free of Egyptian oppression, the Israelites were now in a situation where they had to survive in difficult circumstances of the wilderness. Imagine escaping from the city with all its shops and restaurants, but the dullness of seemingly endless 9-5 routine work…out into the moors and hills of the Peak District or Lake District… at first it’s great to be free…free of all your responsibilities…but soon hunger and thirst start to kick in. You’ve come prepared with food, but while with food you can carry quite a lot of it…water is more difficult to carry …You have enough for the first few days…but three days in… you are starting to run out…and beginning to worry.
From our reading the people of Israel are three days into the desert…three days into freedom…but the miraculous escape from the Egyptians through the Sea is no longer on their mind…what they are interested in are cold facts!Water and Bread
Water
Bread
i.e. – their most basic physical needs!
Biblical faith has always been about physical needs. It has always been about God providing bread and water when we need it.
We might think Christianity is more about spiritual highs and mystical, charismatic experiences…and it is!
But our God knows we are human too. He knows we are as the Bible tells – ‘Made from dust’ – Made from the soil of the Earth. We are physical beings…
as well as spiritual ones!
So, this situation in the desert for the Israelites is a real one…very real…If this new God that Moses has told them about…who has delivered them from Egyptian slavery is to be trusted…believed…he’s got to look after their physical needs…and this is not going to be a straight forward process when you have tens of thousands of people camping out in the desert. Imagine New Wine or Greenbelt, Glastonbury or Reading festivals without the portable toilet facilities, shower blocks and fast food takeaway vans…this is not an easy task. So, when we put this story in context it’s perhaps no wonder that when the Israelites glimpse from afar the glimmering pool of water at Marah, they are overjoyed to have found a source of refreshment…only to be (excuse the pun) bitterly disappointed!22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they travelled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
“What are we to drink?”
Good question!
For the Israelites 3 days into a desert hike and camping trip…it’s a very real issue. For us in 21st Century Britain with clean drinking water on tap and warm water for baths and showers in the boiler – our needs may be very different.
But nevertheless, there are times in our lives or there will be at some point times in our lives when we are desperate for refreshment…desperate for comfort…desperate for replenishment…and suddenly we find a source of comfort…only to find out that actually it is BITTER and no comfort at all. Actually, it is bitter water…undrinkable…a bitter illusion of refreshment!
I think of those times at the end of the month when, the numbers in the bank account look smaller and smaller…how am I going to survive till the next pay check? Or the times when one starts a new relationship which initially fulfils only rapidly begins to disintegrate even quicker than the last one…under the pressures of the daily routine. Or perhaps, it’s the question of funding for the Bridge…we have funding enough for today, but what about in the future?
At some point we will ask: What are we to drink?!Moses does what every servant of God should do.
He doesn’t hold back!
He doesn’t control his emotions or look like he has a back-up plan – a plan B for these very circumstances.
No, he cries out to the LORD!25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood.
Six words in the NIV translation - Moses cried out to the LORD
No holding back… no smart suited boardroom meeting…he just asks God for help…
What is his prayer? We don’t know…but it is probably as simple as ‘Help!’
and God answers him. God shows him a piece of wood:25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
Now some writers say there is perhaps nothing miraculous about this story as in the desert where the Israelites were camping there are known to be pools of bitter water which can be remedied with a certain kind of wood that has herbal properties. There is literally a bush that grows in the desert which makes bitter water sweet.
But could there also be a analogy for us here as Christians…could the piece of wood represent for us something prophetic…something that foretells the future of a different piece of wood that 1500 years later would take away a different kind of bitterness and poison from our lives…from the whole world’s lives?
Could the piece of wood God showed Moses represent the Cross of Jesus?
A dry length of wood that soaks up the toxicity in the undrinkable water…is it just our imaginations to think that this might be an ancient foreshadowing of the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross…taking in all the evil and bitter suffering of the World in his own flesh…as he hangs upon two beams of rough wood…His own blood soaking the dry grain as he takes upon the Sin of the World.Did not another desert Prophet, John the Baptizer, in a much later age, say of Jesus?
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29
‘(Moses) threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.’
The bitter water became… sweet.
Sweetness out of bitterness!
Isn’t that what we want to happen in our own lives?
For our bitter experiences to become sweet?
For our tears to become laughter?
For our mourning to become joy?
For our open wounds to become healed?Our society:
Our society is widely recognised as both a consumerist society and as a celebrity society.
That means:
When we feel sad or unhappy or ashamed or we tend to solve the problem of these difficult feelings by buying something.
We consume.
We consume to solve our problems.
We also live in a celebrity society.
Where certain glamorous men and women represent to us in full multi-colour, high definition the kind of success and adulation we would all like for ourselves, but cannot have…at least not to the same degree. We can see the allure of celebrity in the array of talent shows that have become such a huge hit over the last ten years or so…many people desire to be a celebrity…many people long for that glamorous lifestyle of a pop star or movie actress…we crave their beauty… We long to escape our own mediocre, dreary, routine lives, with all the chores and petty arguments with spouse or kids and be whisked away into the world of starlight celebrity…at least I do! Or is it just me?!
If we can’t become a star, we can make a deal
But if we can’t become full on celebrities our consumer society says actually if you work hard at your job and earn some money then I will allow you to ‘BUY’ – i.e. exchange some of your cash, which you have earned working away in a rather ordinary unglamorous job for a little bit of the celebrity shine…
So, we look to these celebrities for some of their magic and wonder to kind of rub off on us by buying a magazine telling us about the lives of celebrities or we watch on TV a documentary, we buy the latest DVD or download a music track, purchase the same brand clothing etc, etc
In this way, we can partake in the celebrity glory…even just taste it a little in exchange for money…of course the problem arises when we run out of money…then we really become stuck…but if we have money we can put up with it for a while…Why? Because the lives of celebrities are SWEET and our lives are BITTER
If I may, I would like to share with you a story from my own life that happened recently:
Dream testimony – Mr. Jesson’s ‘sour berries’ + Bitter fruit tasting good, ‘Better than normal sweet fruit’
In the end…God does lead the Israelites to a place of abundant fresh water…12 springs at Elim. In the Bible the number 12 is a number of completeness – fullness. 10 is also a number of completeness and fullness, but 12 is ten + two more so it is a number of abundance, more than sufficiency. There are twelve tribes of Israel – twelve different family groups – with twelve distinct identities all of them catered for.
Twelve springs of fresh water – an oasis in the desert and trees too…trees for shade and lush greenery. But the journey takes us first through the bitter waters. God wants to prepare us for the fresh water by taking us through the bitter experiences…and showing us…in a way that the World cannot do…in a way our consumer, celebrity society cannot offer us… God shows us, like Mr. Jesson, that he is able and willing to transform our bitter experiences into sweet ones. This is a unique mission that only the Church…God’s People can share with the World. It doesn’t cost you anything…you can’t buy it…you just have to cry out to God and ask for his help and when he shows you the answer…the stick of wood… the teachings or Word of God…pick it up. Obey him and cast it into the bitter waters of your life… and they shall turn sweet…because God doesn’t want you to be in perpetual mourning. He wants to set you free. Free to enjoy the twelve springs of fresh water he has for you around the corner. The reality is though that we will never fully appreciate the fresh water springs until we have first encountered the bitter waters and seen them transformed.
Crying out to God is the answer.
The command of God is the answer. Pick up the piece of wood – the Cross – it is the answer.
Throw it into the bitter waters. There it will soak up the poison and your life will become sweet… a special kind of sweetness, born through suffering, but redeemed through God’s Love. It is a prize, that not even the World with all its celebrities can offer.
Will you cry out to God today?
Will you listen and obey his command to pick up the piece of wood and throw it into the waters of Marah in your life?
By David L Fletcher (Copyright 2010)
Bitter Life into Sweet Life
Fruits of the Spirit – Joy
(We are all supposed to eat more fruit – five portions a day. We are also told that “we are what we eat”. But what if fruit is not what we eat – but what we produce? What if we can be transformed, from the inside out, to /produce/ fruit?
Sounds strange – but it is true. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control are all fruit produced by the very same force that was there at the beginning of time. You never know, some of the fruit of this force might even help you to eat more healthily. Come along and try.)
22 But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. 25 The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives. 26 We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.
Galatians 3: 22-23 (The Message)
But let’s be honest the fruit as the Bible describes them – Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control – sound all a bit ordinary, mundane, worthy even. They are all “nice” words – words to describe your granny or your colleague at work. Let’s face it they’re just not very sexy or exciting
If you’re talking about a smoothie then goodness is key but we all want to be seen as being a bit more interesting than that don’t we? – A bit more cutting edge, not so goody-goody. As the advert says “do you have a wicked side?” The fruit then – designed to make the world a better place but they’re not going to turn the world upside down or on its head.
Instead we pursue what the world tells us counts as success and achievement.
And the church and Christians – do they pursue these fruits? Well no, they’re more interested in the gifts of the spirit – healings, miracles, prophecy, raising the dead, words of knowledge. They sell more books, engage people in more discussions, did it really happen, how can we prove it?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that the gifts are a bad thing – after all if I’m stuck in a hospital bed, a bowl of fruit isn’t great, I’d prefer to receive the gift of healing however…
I’m not often lying in a hospital bed and there are far more times when I am in need of a kind word or a patient pause or a time of peace. So on a day to day basis maybe the fruits deserve more profile than we give them.
And …. The Bible says we are to have all of the fruit so that we can become more like Jesus – that suddenly sounds much more cutting edge and less goody-goody. To be more like Christ offers us the chance to be more authentic, fully awake, self aware, at one with ourselves, with others, with creation, with the Divine. Remember Jesus was fully human, fully authentically human. If he used his God-side, his Son of Godness – then that leaves us nowhere. We can’t be like Jesus as we don’t have that being Godness. When Jesus became human then he put that “Godness” aside. He was fully human and relied on his relationship with God his Father and the Spirit to live out being fully human. That seems more accessible to me. What about you? And isn’t that what drives our search for spirituality – the sense that there is more to life. To me?
So we should spend some time looking more deeply at these fruits. Being good is more than helping old ladies across the street and not kicking the cat if it helps become more like Jesus – over the next few weeks we’re going to take some time to look at a fruit of the spirit in more detail. We’re going to peel back the skin of a fruit each week to discover the depths beneath. We’re going to let Jesus and the Spirit help us to define what it means – not the world we live in. We need to peel back the skin of the world we live in so we can understand what influences our thoughts and behaviour. And then we have to bring the two together.
Youtube clip – ‘How to be happy – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YAzAu3Ut6c
Britain is less happy than in the 1950s – despite the fact that we are three times richer.
The proportion of people saying they are “very happy” has fallen from 52% in 1957 to just 36% today.
The opinion poll by GfK NOP for The Happiness Formula series on BBC Two provides the first evidence that Britain’s happiness levels are declining – a trend already well documented in the United States.
Polling data from Gallup throughout the 1950s shows happiness levels above what they are today, suggesting that our extra wealth has not brought extra well-being.
It could even be making matters worse.
The British experience mirrors data from America, where social scientists have seen levels of life satisfaction gradually decline over the last quarter of a century.
In the early 1970s, 34% of those interviewed in the General Social Survey described themselves as “very happy”.
By the late 1990s, the figure was 30% – a small but statistically significant drop.
The story of wealth failing to translate into extra happiness is the story of the Western world.
In almost every developed country, happiness levels have remained largely static over the past 50 years – despite huge increases in income.
What the happiness research suggests is that once average incomes reach about £10,000 a year, extra money does not make a country any happier.
Should politicians try to make us happier?In our opinion poll we asked whether the government’s prime objective should be the “greatest happiness” or the “greatest wealth”.
A remarkable 81% wanted happiness as the goal. Only 13% wanted greatest wealth.
I’m not sure I see it as the Government’s job is to make us happy. Is happiness the right pursuit for us? Isn’t that just a selfish aim? Or is it OK if we want others to be happy too? But what about the old mantra – you can’t please all the people all of the time? Is it possible for us all to be happy? What makes me happy might make you unhappy?
So here’s a chance for us to reflect on the world we live in and to see how it motivates and influences.
How do you see being happy? What does it mean to you?
Is happiness the same as pleasure?
But what is it that lasts? More than a fleeting feeling, something that can take the ups and downs that life throws at us. What is it that can ebb and flow as our life circumstances change.
The one remaining factor each time when we think about it – is relationships. Once we have our basic needs of food, warmth and shelter being connected with people is our next most basic need.
Our world doesn’t always help us with this – the more stuff we need to get the less time we have to spend on relationships, the less time we spend the more our relationships don’t offer us the same depth of joy so we buy more stuff to fill the gap. The more stuff we have the less time we have for others And the more our neighbour has the more we think we need and so it goes on!
Our connectedness with other people is what ultimately gives us a sense of value and our place in the world. This should come as no surprise to us really. I believe that as humans we are made in the image of God and God in the Christian faith is a God of relationships – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To be more like Jesus is to be in relationship both with God but also with each other.
The fruit of the spirit is joy. So what can we take from these reflections on happiness and joy? Is joy the same as happiness?
Joy is agitated happiness – shook up, fizzing, sometimes messy, energetic, lively Contentment is unagitated happiness – calm, deep, unshakeable
Ultimately as a Christian I believe joy is about hope, that things will be better, and that takes faith and hard work. The world we live in is working towards a time when all things will be put right. The bible promises that there will be a time when there is no more crying, death, suffering or pain.
So here are some thoughts for us to ponder this week.
- Take a long term view, happiness is more than a fleeting pleasure
- Happiness is good for you; don’t be ashamed to pursue it
- Relationships are central to happiness, stay connected
- Be active and engaged, throw yourself into meaningful pursuits
- Look outwards, not inwards, focus your attention on other people and the world around you
- Love unconditionally
- Let children play