God who sweetens bitter water (Exodus 15:22-26)

God who sweetens bitter water (Exodus 15:22-26)

 

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.

24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"

25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,

26 saying, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer."

 

Introduction)

The people of Israel spent about 430 years in Egypt. When Joseph was prime minister, kings who did not know Joseph were wary of the people of Israel and turned them into slaves who were forced to work. When the people of Israel came to a difficult situation, they all lamented and prayed, "Please release us from this pain." Then God heard the cry and called Moses as a leader and sent him to Egypt as a liberator. God brought Pharaoh to his knees through 10 disasters, and eventually about two million Israelites left Egypt. But when he reached the Red Sea, he was afraid that if he didn't capture them again and enslave them, he would have great labor problems and economic damage to Egypt... I've been chasing with an army. But God creates a miracle that drowns them all again in the Red Sea.  What an amazing miracle! From Exodus 15:1, there are hymns of the people of Israel and Miriam who are moved by this. It was 100 times courage and 1000 times gratitude. However, the emotion and praise are not long gone. The scorching sun and the windless wilderness continued for a while, and finally they went down the Sur Desert for three days, running out of water, hungry, hot, and sore legs...And so on and so forth, you get exhausted. But fortunately, they find water in the area.

 

How nice would it have been? So people ran and grabbed water with their hands and scooped it up.... The water was too bitter to drink. There was too much salt in it. Some scholars argue that the red sea water and the lime in the soil probably gave it that bitter taste.

Anyway, the hearts of the Israelites are filled with complaints and anger because they cannot even drink that water.  And so he starts to resent Moses. In three days, God's grace disappears. In an urgent situation, Moses, the leader, had no choice but to pray in front of God. Moses is so miserable that he cries out and begs God.

"God save these people. If I leave it alone, I think there will be a big accident. Help me!" I pray. Then God responds to Moses. "Do you see a branch over there? Take the branch you see over there and throw it into the water." Moses quickly followed God's word and threw the branch God had instructed into the water. And after a while, when I tasted the water, the water turned into bottled water. The whole people were able to drink and hold the water that turned into sweet and cool bottled water. All the resentments and complaints have disappeared, the community has added grace, and the problem has been resolved. (Today, I have prepared a word that means that the bitter life of all of us can still be sweet with God' )

 

the main point)

A)     A bitter life

Mara's bitter water is like our problem as we walk through the wilderness of life today. It is a matter of all life wandering not only in Moses' time but also in sin. Like the endless winds of health problems, economic problems, human misunderstandings and disputes, academic problems, environmental problems, death problems, and so on, our problems don't have many days to rest. If you cross a mountain, it's a mountain. If you cross the river, it's a river again. Worries and worries continue to come. It's hopeless. I want to run away. It's lonely and scary, too. It takes away all the laughter. Money doesn't work either. This is a situation that most saints go through, not just a few people. No one seems to have an exception. It also discourages the motivation to live. I feel like I'm stuck everywhere. I sigh that it's too hard to live.

So there's no solution at all? That's not true. 

Nowadays, as science develops, salt water is purified and used as drinking water. Pohang Iron & Steel, a big steel company in Korea, purifies seawater and uses it as industrial water. The very useless swamps are also being based on new scientific and good techniques, building buildings on top of them, and building apartment complexes.

Also, there is a big airport called Gimpo Airport in Korea, and there was an island between Nanjido and Han River. Most of the garbage generated in Seoul was thrown there, so it became a mountain, not an island. The Nanjido was a useless, stinking, repulsive land full of garbage. However, now it has been cleaned and developed, and a beautiful golf course with green grass has been built on it, and it has become a popular park for citizens.

Most problems have solutions. Science and technology and hard work and dreams can beautifully change serious problems. But the problem is that nothing in our lives can make it sweet easily. However, no matter how advanced science and technology are, this bitter water in us, this bitter life problem, used in our homes, cannot be sweetened by human power alone. Countless people in the world drink alcohol all night long to sweeten their bitter lives, go to karaoke and sing until their voices are hoarse, follow all kinds of drugs and pleasures, but the problem only gets bigger. It gets more bitter. Fortunately, today's words introduce God who can sweeten our bitter lives.

 

B)To make a bitter life sweet,

1. First, let's know that resentment is never the solution when you meet bitter water.

We have a habit of resenting first when we have a problem. Find the scapegoat first.  According to today's statement, the people of Israel, who met Mara's bitter water, poured out their resentment toward Moses, who they praised and respected three days ago, when they faced difficulties due to the spirit of distrust. But resentment is not the solution. Resentment is the result of distrust.  We are busy finding scapegoats, blaming others for a little bit of difficulty.

Adam, who ate the fruit of good and evil, also resents his wife. After committing the crime, Adam resents God that the responsibility for the sin was "that woman God gave me to eat." Why did God give such a woman? Adam never said, "I was wrong." Eve excused and complained that it was because of a sly snake. Blaming was not an honest act. God said to the person who resented it, "Oh, really? He doesn't take my side because he couldn't help it. They punish you.

 

Everyone, think about Job we know well. God praised Job very much. One day Job suddenly suffered a bitter mala pain. Job lost all his property overnight. One day, the children of seven sons and three daughters were killed. He had a musical instrument in his body. His wife also cursed him and left. What kind of bitter life is this common?

But in Job 1:21, Job confesses like this. He said, "I will give praise to the name of the Lord because I have been born with the red god, that is, the red god, and the red god will return there." Isn't this true? Don't you think so? How honest are you? Then God praises Job like this. "Job did not commit a crime in all this, and he did not resent God foolishly." Come to think of it, we really don't seem to have anything to blame God. If you don't resent it, you see the beginning of treatment. Therefore, God made that Job's bitter life has been restored to a short life.

 

The Washington Post reported this story. Genghis Khan is the first person to make this global village a global era.He testified like this, emphasizing that he lived a life of overcoming rather than a life of resentment. Genghis Khan said, "Don't blame the house for being bad. I lost my father when I was nine and was kicked out of town. Don't blame yourself for being poor. I survived by eating field mice, and the war with my life was my job and my job. Don't say you were born in a small country. He was born in a place where he had no friends but shadows, 100,000 soldiers alone, and less than 2 million people, including children and the elderly. Don't blame yourself for lack of power because you haven't learned anything. I didn't even know how to write my name, but I learned to be wise by listening to others. Don't say that you're too at a loss to give up. I escaped with a knife around my neck, and I was killed by an arrow in the cheek, and then I came back to life." This is an example that I quoted earlier. Anyway, the article points out that Genghis Khan soon became the first protagonist to bring the world into the global era because of his spirit of not blaming the environment and not blaming others.

 

2. Second, cry out to God and pray. 

You can cry out to God and pray like Moses. All the people resented God without hesitation in front of Mara's bitter water. Resentment is also a habit. It's a bad habit. Anyway, Moses said that in such a situation, he fell down to God. "Lord, save this people.

 

2. Second, cry out to God and pray. 

You can cry out to God and pray like Moses. All the people resented God without hesitation in front of Mara's bitter water. Resentment is also a habit. It's a bad habit. Anyway, Moses said that in such a situation, he fell down to God. "Lord, save this people. Please take pity on me. Moses, a man of faith, went to God with prayer rather than resentment because he believed that God was alive. This is greatness. People who lack faith waste time and fall deeper into the mire because they resent rather than cry. Finally, God hears Moses' prayer with faith and converts Mara's bitter water into sweet water. We should have a habit of praying and crying.

 

Look at Samuel's mother, Hannah. When he went to Shiloh to offer sacrifices, he prayed with tears when he was persecuted by his later wife because he had no children, and in response to the prayer, he received the great prophet Samuel.

When we cry out and pray, God must hear and respond.

David also said in Psalm 18:6, "I told the Lord in distress and cried out to my God, and I heard my voice before him, and my cry was heard in his ears."  Psalm 120:1 says, "I cried out to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me."

I said, "I wish you all the best, gentlemen, to be the people of prayer. I hope you believe that we can't, but God can.

 

3. Finally, you should be able to entrust all the problems of life to Jesus.

The way to turn the bitter water of our lives into sweet water is to do God's commands and obey. Throwing branches into the water as God tells you to do. To throw this branch in today's world is Jesus, who died on a tree. Jesus is our solution.

Jesus is the only one who can sweeten the bitter water of our lives. First of all, if we open our lives, there are bitter roots of sin in all bitter problems. Everything makes us write our lives because of sin. The curse of sin must be lifted. So if the sin problem is not solved, we can never make a bitter life sweet. I try to succeed for a while and make money, but it disappears soon. There is no real solution.  Just as water was attached only when the branches were thrown there, life will run only when you serve Jesus.

 

Isaiah 53:5 = "His stabbing is due to our faults, and his injury is due to our sins, so that we may enjoy peace because he is disciplined, and that we may be better off because he is beaten by a whip." In order to sweeten our bitter lives, Jesus abandoned the throne of heaven and came to this land. When Jesus enters my heart, I am sinned. Bitter water turns into sweet water. As Jesus' love enters me, hate disappears. My bitter water becomes sweet.

It was not forgiven until Jesus came, but it is forgiven because of Jesus. When Jesus comes in, greed recede, humility, freedom, and hope arise. It makes me happy. A river of fresh water flows in our stomach.

 

Conclusion)

Happy birthday dear Saints! Do you have this Jesus? Are you listening to him even if you're invited? I'm inviting you, but aren't you just talking about me? If you don't listen to Jesus, you will not be able to enjoy peace by resenting, biting, biting, and fighting each other.  So what are we going to do with our bitter lives? First, don't just try to resent it. Second, try to cry out to God and pray. Third, leave everything to God and obey Jesus' commands. I believe that God will turn the bitter water in our hearts into sweet water.

 

                          020723 Pastor Ahn Ik-sun