Sermon Tone Analysis

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Exodus 15 (page 110 in the red pew Bible in front of you).

If you’re willing, stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word.

Exodus 15, beginning with verse 22:

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

----------------------------

The Problem

“Now this is the story all about how...”

This is the story of Israel’s post-salvific journey.

That is, these verses tell what happened after the Lord saved the Israelites from the Egyptians.

The Lord brought His people through the Red Sea, drowned their enemies before their very eyes.

The people worshipped, singing to the Lord for what He had done and for what He would do.

And now…well, now, immediately after their salvation...the people grumble.

It makes sense, if you think about it.

You’d grumble, too, if were wandering through the desert with several hundred thousand of your closest friends and you couldn’t find any water.

No water is a problem.

If you’ve ever been overseas or in a country where you’re instructed to not drink the water, you know how precious good drinking water is.

For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.

That’s a problem.

But then, they come to Marah.

I’m sure some of them saw it in the distance.

“A mirage, maybe.”

But then, they got there and saw the water.

Some probably dove in head-first.

After three days with no water, Marah was the best thing they’d seen.

Some likely dove right in.

Others ran to the side of the water, dropped to their knees, cupped their hands and filled them with water, bringing them up to their mouths...only to spit it out.

Bitter.

Bitter, nasty water.

When you need a drink and the only water around is bitter and nasty—that’s a problem.

What, though, should the people of God have done here?

When they face this problem—a valid, serious problem—what should God’s people have done?

The Reaction

Lack of water is a problem, absolutely.

But the actual problem is found in verse 24.

What we find in verse 24 is a bunch of grumbly Gus-es.

Their question is valid: “What are we to drink?” Their question—“What are we to drink?”—is not out of line.

But their attitude is sinful.

Their reaction is sinful.

Bitter water is no good.

Even worse is bitter people; the reaction of the people, the attitude of God’s people is sinful.

To whine and complain and grumble is a sign of spiritual immaturity.

One day, the people were dancing on the beach, singing praises to God.

And now, only a few days later, they were on the verge of open rebellion.

This is a clear sign that they were still in their spiritual infancy.

Unfortunately, people of any age (both then and today) can be stuck in spiritual infancy.

This applies to pastors, church leaders, longtime church members.

Our readiness to complain, to grumble, to whine reveals just how mature (or rather immature) we are.

What’s our first reaction to change?

What’s our reaction when we face inflexibility?

How do we react when we don’t get our way or when we don’t get what we want the moment we want it?

The text says so the people grumbled against Moses.

This is common.

People find someone to grumble about or to and it’s usually about or directed toward the leader closest to them.

Poor Moses takes the flack; but that’s just the price of leadership.

Here’s the real problem: the people aren’t just grumbling against Moses.

Moses was their human leader; he was, from a human perspective, in charge.

But who’s really leading them?

Hint: It’s not Moses.

The people have been led by the Lord since coming out of Egypt:

Who’s leading the people?

It’s not Moses; it’s the Lord.

So then, it’s not Moses who has led them to this place with bitter water.

It’s the Lord.

The people grumble against Moses because Moses is the human representative for the Lord and Moses is easy to blame; he’s right there in front of them.

They can go to him and let rip: “What are we to drink, Moses?

Hmmm, buddy boy!?! What would you have us drink?

Tell us!”

Douglas K. Stuart comments very directly: “The people did not have what they expected and [they] failed to trust God to provide it.

Since the Garden of Eden, that has been a formula for disobedience.”

They grumble.

They complain.

This is not unlike us.

I can’t tell you the number of times something goes awry or differently than I would have it, and, instead of trusting, I grumble.

Instead of trusting, I complain.

Instead of trusting, I act like a petulant three-year-old, or, as the case may be a petulant Israelite—throwing a fit, insisting I get my way or else.

And yet sometimes, the gripe is real.

Sometimes, it’s a major issue (like going without water for three days).

Sometimes, it’s life and death.

But, even then, grumbling and complaining is not the way forward.

What we suffer may be bitter in itself, but however bitter it is, it doesn’t need to make us bitter.

The main problem at Marah was not the water, bitter though it was; the main problem is the bitterness in the hearts of God’s people.

The Psalms teach us there’s a way to cry out to the Lord, to give to Him our cares and concerns, to lament (there’s an entire book of the Bible entitled Lamentations); there’s a way to bare our souls, to question Him (Psalm 13): “How long, Lord?”

Complaining, grumbling is as much of a problem as a lack of water while wandering in the desert.

Spiritually speaking, faithless grumbling is a much more serious issue, in fact.

What the Israelites do here and what we tend to do the majority of the time is, unfortunately, faithless grumbling.

This is as much of a problem as a lack of water while wandering in the desert.

Spiritually speaking, faithless grumbling is a much more serious issue.

Paul warned the church in Corinth (and by extension, us) not to grumble:

The lack of good drinking water is a problem.

And so is the reaction/attitude of the people.

The first two movements in this passage could be labeled “Problem #1” and “Problem #2.”

The Miracle

The people grumble against Moses—“Thanks a lot, Moses.

Brought us to the desert where there’s nothing to drink.

Good for nothing...”

Instead of grumbling back at them, Moses turns to the Lord and cries out to Him.

That’s the right answer.

That’s the proper reaction.

You know Moses was just as thirsty as the rest of the Israelites.

He’d been traveling with them, three days with no water.

I’m sure he felt a little grumbly himself, a little complain-y.