Exodus 15:19-27 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
There are so many good lessons we can learn from today’s passage, Exodus 15:19-27. Let’s go!
Exodus 15:19 (NIV)
19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.
On verse 19: The Israelites were looking just to escape the Egyptians, but God was looking to defeat them completely. That way the Israelites would never have to worry about ever being enslaved by the Egyptians again.
God did the same when Jesus died on the cross and rose again. God’s goal was not simply to help us escape the clutches of sin and death. God wanted to defeat sin and death completely so that sin and death would no longer control us. God didn’t just provide a temporary escape. He provided a permanent victory.
Exodus 15:20-21 (NIV)
20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.
21 Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”
On verses 20-21: Arguably the first worship leader ever recorded in the Bible was Miriam. Miriam takes a tambourine in her hand and begins to give God praise through singing and dancing, and all the women join her. It goes to show that being a worship leader is less about having a full band and perfect technical ability and so much more about worshiping God in such a way that it inspires others to do the same.
Also notice this: Miriam isn’t just singing to God, but “to them” (v21), i.e. the Israelites. Miriam was communicating who God is to the people through her song. Perhaps it’s because of this that Moses calls Miriam a “prophetess”.
Exodus 15:22 (NIV)
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.
On verse 22: By the Red Sea the Israelites celebrated how God saved them, but they couldn’t stay by the Red Sea. They had to move on. And on they went to the Desert of Shur where they would be looking for water for three days and not finding any. You can be “Shur” of this: after God saves you, God will eventually allow you to go through “desert times” when your faith will be tested. (As the end of verse 25 says, “he tested them”.) God does this not to play games, but to strengthen your faith and your character. For God’s final goal is not just to save you but to make you more like His Son Jesus Christ. God knows that a certain amount of pressure and difficulty is necessary if you want to grow spiritual muscles. That is one of God’s main reasons for allowing pressure and difficulty in your life: He’s training you to grow in your faith and character.
Exodus 15:23-24 (NIV)
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?”
On verses 23-24: No doubt the journey God would have the Israelites go on was not easy. On the difficult parts of the journey, the Israelites would often resort to grumbling against God and against their God-given leader Moses. But did their difficult circumstances make the Israelites bitter, or did their difficult circumstances simply reveal the Israelites’ own pre-existing weaknesses and immaturity?
Pastor Jon Courson puts it this way: “People do not make us bitter. Situations do not make us bitter. They simply show us what is already within us. I know this because, looking at Jesus, I see that, although He was spat upon, cursed at, and nailed to a cross, He said, ‘Father forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing’ (Luke 23:34). No bitterness came out of Him because there was no bitterness within Him.” (quoted from Courson, Jon. Jon Courson’s Application Commentary – Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Old Testament Volume 1. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.)
With that in mind, whenever we encounter difficult situations and as a result notice ourselves acting in ways that are not so mature or Christ-like, may it cause us to humble ourselves before God and ask Him to change us from the inside out.
Exodus 15:25 (NIV)
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.
On verses 25: This difficult road that the Israelites were on was also punctuated by incredible miracles whenever Moses would cry out to God. Moses cries out to the LORD. The LORD shows Moses a piece of wood, which Moses throws into the water and somehow by that the water becomes sweet and drinkable.
What can we learn from this?
– In especially difficult circumstances, like Moses be quick to go to God and ask Him for wisdom about what to do.
– See your difficult circumstances as an opportunity for God to show His power.
– You may have encountered bitter waters in your life – painful, hurtful experiences that affect you to this day. Just as Moses applying a piece of wood to bitter waters miraculously made the bitter waters sweet, so when you apply the cross of Jesus Christ to your bitter situation, you find a way to make that bitter situation better. When you remember that at the cross Jesus Christ fully paid for all the ways that others have hurt you (not to mention all the ways you have hurt others), you can start to take a bitter situation and make it better.
Exodus 15:26 (NIV)
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.”
On verse 26: Here God makes a conditional promise: He promises that if the Israelites keep all His decrees, He will not bring upon them what He brought upon the Egyptians. He also calls Himself their healer. How could any of us ever keep all of God’s decrees? We can’t. So are we doomed? No. In God’s unconditional love for us, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to keep all of God’s decrees on our behalf so that we could escape certain destruction from God’s wrath and receive instead God’s healing and blessing.
Exodus 15:27 (NIV)
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
On verse 27: After a time at Mara (which means “bitter”), the Israelites reach Elim, a place with plenty of water (from 12 springs) and shade (from 70 palm trees). With God I often find that, after a time of painful testing or trial, there is usually a time of refreshing and restoration. So if you’re going through your own desert of Shur or your own Mara right now, don’t despair. Elim (God’s refreshing/restoration) is on its way.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You are a God who both refines us and refreshes us. Thank You for those times when You test us to make us stronger. And thank You for those times when we can rest and be restored. By Your power please grow me in every way You want me to grow, and restore me in every possible way. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
