25Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.26 And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.” Exodus 15:25-2

As Moses leads them from the Red Sea through the difficult wilderness, the thirsty Israelites come upon the waters of Marah, but they are not able to drink from it because it is bitter and deadly. Moses seeks guidance from God through prayer, while the Israelites grumble in resentment. God answers his prayers by showing him a tree and directs him to throw it in the water. Moses obeys, and the water becomes sweet enabling the Israelites to drink it. 

What can we learn from this passage? We must learn that, when we face difficulty, we must first pray to God to receive a solution. If we pray in earnest, we will receive direction from God, and we must obey that direction no matter how seemingly trivial or great. God will always give us a way to resolve the hardships we face if we seek help from Him. 

Here the Israelites are following God’s lead, and yet, they face hardship. Though we may be trying to live our lives faithfully, we may also face hardships. When we do, we should not become resentful. God sends us challenges when we disobey but also when we do. Why? God is enabling us to learn and build our faith. God will always have a purpose behind whatever situations He sends to us, good or bad. We must not misunderstand and think, “Why am I suffering when I am following God?” In this passage, God sends the Israelites this challenge in order for them to learn and grow in their faith. They needed to understand that, when faced with difficulty, they must seek God’s direction first, trust in Him, and obey. Rather than be resentful when facing a challenge in our lives, we must first seek out God’s direction through prayer. 

When Moses prays, God provides him a solution. In this case, God directs Moses to throw a tree into the water. While it seems a trivial and random task, Moses obeys God’s directive. Many of the Israelites probably thought, “How is throwing a stick into these waters going to solve anything?” When the solution is something grand or connected to the problem in some way, it makes sense to obey. But oftentimes, we doubt the task if it seems completely unrelated or trivial in our minds. Remember Naaman the great general who came to Elisha to heal his leprosy? Elisha directs him to dip himself seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman is angered and resents being asked to do a seemingly nonsensical task. Was Elisha ridiculing him? Naaman even considered killing Elisha, but his servant says at least try and see what happens. Naaman does so, and he is cured of his leprosy.

When we pray at times of difficulty for God’s help, His direction comes to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God teaches us through His Word with each situation he sends to us. At each of these moments, God is sending a specific learning we must gain through the experience in answering our prayer. We then understand through keeping His Word in our obedience to His direction. While Moses prayed intensely, he did not hear some thundering voice but received God’s guidance internally through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We must listen carefully with all our attention to hear God’s direction. In our prayer, we must focus on seeing God’s inspiration through the Holy Spirit, then recognize correctly what God is directing us to do, and finally, follow God’s direction exactly with all our effort. We do not know whether it will be a difficult or easy task God assigns to us. God gave Moses and Naaman easy, seemingly unrelated tasks. But Daniel is given a very difficult, life-threatening one. Both will come our way, but we must obey whatever it is with focus and exactness. 

Though it may be wonderful for us to become successful, grow in stature, and expand our church, it will be for nothing if we do not learn this lesson from the Israelites’ experience. When hardships come, pray first, receive God’s direction, and then obey God’s direction. The difficulty is resolved through our obedient action. Though others may think we are foolish, our obedience is the path to blessing. Remember that Joseph’s situation being sold into slavery looked terrible to those around him, but it was a necessary first step on his path to becoming who he became. This is how God teaches, and we learn. Our time on this earth is practice for our eternal lives, for testing our faith, and for transforming ourselves through our faith. There is a blessing, victory, and peace found inside obedience and a way to overcome the difficulties in our lives which enable us to grow in our faith. When faced with difficulty, pray first, then obey God’s direction.

Please click for Korean sermon https://soundcloud.com/yhpaik/1981-4-1a-1