“HE TESTED THEM!”

 Exodus 15:22-26                                                              (ESV)

“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."”

Exodus 14, one of the passages GOD uses very often to grow me, is the account of GOD getting Glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, casting them into the Red Sea!  The first eighteen verses of Exodus 15 is a song of praise and adoration for the ALMIGHTY, extolling how HE ravaged “the enemy” so that they were to never be seen again.  Yet less than a very few verses later, the Israelites were whining again, this time because the water was bitter at Marah (defined as “bitter”!)!

The Israelites had just witnessed GOD completely annihilating the very people they were enslaved to for 400+ years.  Now only days later they were openly criticizing GOD and HIS servant Moses because the water wasn’t to there liking.  The same GOD WHO CREATED the world and everything in it, the same GOD WHO was protecting them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, this same GOD WHO wanted to SEE that these whiners would “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” wanted FAITH exhibited by the Israelites!  But they whined that the water was bitter!

Are we any better?  Do we constantly complain about the environment that we are surrounded by because we THINK that we are getting the short end of the deal?  Genesis 50:20 is crying to be HEARD as Joseph had been left for dead by his own brothers, sold into slavery by the same, lied on by Potiphar’s wife, until finally GOD used him to save the very people who were now crying because the water was bitter?!?  Didn’t they remember everything that GOD had performed for them?  Wasn’t their FAITH increased when “HE TESTED THEM”?  Yet they refused to even lend an ear to listen to GOD, much less DILIGENTLY LISTEN!

We are only accountable for our reactions when GOD TESTS US!  HE has brought me through some rather remarkable experiences, and I don’t want to be unappreciative!  “HE TESTED THEM” and the Israelites failed the test, reverting to the whining and griping of their past, instead of acknowledging that GOD was able to deliver them, no matter how bleak the situation.  “HE TESTED THEM” and HE already KNEW their response!  GOD already knows our response also!  When “HE TESTED THEM”, will we TESTIFY, or once again begin to whine and cry???