Introduction: 
One of the more difficult truths to wrestle with in the Christian life is that we are not promised that life will be easy smooth sailing once we have placed our trust in Christ. We are never promised perfect health in life, a painless death, protection from every kind of harm or disappointment. And we certainly aren’t promised abundance of possessions or riches. In fact, we are actually promised quite the opposite. In 1 Peter 4:12, we are told not to be surprised by a fiery trial as though it is something strange. After being stoned in Lystra, in Acts 14:22, Paul strengthens the believers by “saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” And in John 16:33, Jesus says, “In this world, you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

Our passage today is an example of the Christian life. Israel has been miraculously saved from the hand of the Egyptians, they have been released from their bondgage and we have just seen them rejoicing in the salvation of God. Now they are on their way to the promised land but to get there they will travel through the wilderness. Their hope of future blessing, peace, and rest stands before them as sure as the rising of the sun. But, on the way there, they will face trials of many kinds. In the same way, our salvation has been fully accomplished through the finished work of Christ on the cross. We are completely redeemed and reconciled with God. But we are not yet in our final resting place. We are in the wilderness heading towards our glorious destination, and along the way we are promised that we will face trials of various kinds. What should we know about ourselves as we walk through this life? What should we know about God? And how can we stay on the narrow road to glory? I believe our passage answers these questions. As we look at Israel’s response to their trials, we are given a glimpse into our own hearts. As we marvel at God’s perfect and wise care, we are shown truths to understand and cling to through our wilderness wandering. And as we listen to God’s instructions, through Moses, we are provided with ways to guide our hearts and minds along the way. Please open your bibles to Exodus, chapter 15. We are going to look at Exodus 15:22-16:36 in 4 parts and in each section we will see what it reveals about God and about the human condition. Begin with me in the first section, verses 22-27, were the word of God reveals, 

Weak Hearts and Wise Purposes 

Start in Exodus 15:22–23,

[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.

Israel crossed the Red Sea, saw the salvation of God, and rejoiced in the triumph of God over Egypt. But this was only the beginning of their journey to the promised land, and the narrative shifts immediately to them running into difficulty. Difficulty that, by now, we should recognize is inside of the sovereign purposes of God. It had been three days of walking through the wilderness and they had yet to come across any water. To make matters worse, when they finally do, it was so bitter that it was undrinkable. It was bad enough to name the place Marah, which means bitter. Their recent triumph and joy was followed by disappointment and tribulation. How will Israel respond? Look at Exodus 15:24,

[24] And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

We can sympathize with Israel’s situation. It would be incredibly difficult to go without water in the desert for 3 days. Our mouths would be dry and fatigue setting in. We finally see water only to discover it was too bitter to drink. However, despite having just seen God stand the water up in walls around them and instead of trusting God to provide, they grumbled against Moses again. What we see is the weakness of our hearts. This was a real emergency but instead of turning to the creator of water, they complain. All they had to do was look up to the cloud that guided them there. Oh how often we have grumbling and complaining spirits. We complain about jobs, living situations, friends hurting us, spouses, kids, parents, health, wearing masks, social distancing. The truth is our hearts are bent towards grumbling more often than we would like to admit. I know mine is. This passage shines a light onto our hearts and shows this weakness reveals a lack of trust that God will care for us. So, how do Moses and God respond? Pick up in Exodus 15:25-26,

[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.”

Moses rightly cries to the Lord for help and we read that the Lord showed him a log. This is kind of a funny thing to picture the way it is written. “God we need your help.” “Moses, look at that log.” “Um ok God, but what does that have to do with anything?” We aren’t told whether God told him to throw it in the water but, as Moses did, the water wasn’t just turned to drinking water but it was made sweet. No longer was it undrinkable but delightful to the taste. Then we see the Lord disclose his wise purposes. He “tested them there” and commanded them to listen, pay attention, and follow His commands. He shows that the purpose of the coming trials is to see if Israel would trust and obey Him and He led them to Marah to disclose this purpose to them. He also gives them a warning. Now, I don’t think we should get hung up on the warning but we should let it land properly. God desired trust and obedience, and He reminded them of His judgement towards those that turn away from Him. This is part of the way the Lord helps us in our sanctification. Warnings like this are not just part of the Old Covenant, they run through the book of Hebrews, and other New Testament letters. So, we don’t dismiss them but let them do the work in our hearts that they are designed to do. Yet, also in His wisdom, God doesn’t stop there, He gives them a beautiful new name to know him by, Yahweh-rophe, the God who heals. Rophe refers to physical and spiritual wellness and soundness. God cured the water at Marah to show them that they can trust him for all kinds of healing. This section, then, beautifully ends with an abundant provision in Exodus 15:27,

[27] Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

It is likely that the twelve springs coincide with the twelve tribes of Israel and the seventy palm trees, the seventy elders. The idea is they now encamped at a location with plenty of water and shade. Surely this would help them trust in God as they continue forward. Yet, look with me at the next section, in Exodus 16:1-18, where the word of God reveals,

Exposed Sin and Extravagant Mercy 

Look at Exodus 16:1–3,

[1] They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. [2] And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, [3] and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Time has passed and they are leaving the comfort of Elim. What is interesting is we are not told that they had any need for food here. In fact, it may be safe to assume they weren’t in need because they were traveling with livestock. Pay attention to how they described their situation in Egypt, they “sat by meat pots and ate bread to the full.” The discomfort of Egypt has left their minds and all they can remember is what is probably an exaggerated recounting of their food supply. Their grumbling this time is not out of need but desire. Continue in Exodus 16:4-8,

[4] Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. [5] On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” [6] So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, [7] and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” [8] And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”

God tells Moses how he will provide, then Moses and Aaron relay that to the people while exposing their sin. Simultaneously, three times their grumbling is exposed as not against Moses and Aaron but against the Lord. In the end, all our grumbling is, is sin. It is the sin of unbelief. And that sin leads to other sin because we often do what the Israelites did and shift the blame onto others that don’t deserve it. I am praying this is a piercing moment in this narrative because, far too often, I see grumbling tearing apart the church. It keeps reconciliation from happening, quinches love from flourishing, and traps us in despair which robs us of joy in the Lord. It is a great sin that is far too often overlooked. But there is hope, look at Exodus 16:9-12,

[9] Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’” [10] And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. [11] And the LORD said to Moses, [12] “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”

There are times, like this moment in Israel’s history, when our sin of unbelief pours from our hearts and God’s response is extravagant mercy. The Lord hears their grumbling against Him but invites them to draw near to taste and see his glory. He lifts their eyes up to the cloud to see His glory, and then reminds them that they will eat meat that evening and, in the morning, be filled with bread. They think they had it good in Egypt, wait till they see what the Lord will provide for them in the wilderness. Oh church, we might not always see it because our spiritual taste buds have become numb but what God provides is always better. Just listen to the description of what God does for these grumbling people in Exodus 16:13-18,

[13] In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. [14] And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. [15] When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. [16] This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” [17] And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. [18] But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 

Just picture the sight, in the evening quail covering the camp. You wanted meat, you got it. Ok, I know what you may be thinking, quail, bird, not exactly what I would call meat. To which my South African friends say “Amen.” But just picture the abundance of provision. Then you wake up in the morning and as the dew lifts, you look around and see a fine flake like substance all around.You discover it is bread from the Lord, and are told, “Go, gather as much you can eat.” You grab what you can, sit and eat and at the end you like oh that was so good and filling. You look to your neighbor, are you hungry? Are you hungry? And everyone says, no, I am perfectly filled. Do you see the extravagant mercy of God? Israel is grumbling against the Lord one minute and the next, they are completely satisfied. Yet, sadly, this satisfaction doesn’t last long and, in verses 19-30, the word reveals,

Stubborn Unbelief and Sufficient Providence 

Look at, Exodus 16:19–20,

[19] And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” [20] But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

How quickly they forget that they will have all they need if they trust God. Moses reminds them not to leave anything till the morning and some try to store part of it away, fearful they will be hungry tomorrow. We can be so stubborn in our unbelief at times can’t we? Have you ever experienced something like this? The Lord provides something satisfying for you and you find yourself quickly doubting He will care for you in the same way with the next thing. I had a moment like this weeks ago. You might remember when I left my phone at home and barely arrived on time to start the service. Well, we have pre service prayer on Saturday mornings now. And I have been blessed by how it has set my heart upon God before church. I had a particularly sweet time that morning and was ready to worship. I arrive outside of the building, realize I didn’t have my phone with the AlHosn app and drive back to get it. Everything is going well until, on my way back, I get a call that I had the only key to a bag with our equipment here and there was an issue with the set up. 

Instead of trusting that God was us, my heart became overwhelmed. I began frantically making alternative plans, and to be honest, started to get anxious and frustrated at the situation. I lost sight of God’s goodness that had so recently satisfied my heart. In His abundant kindness, God ended up providing and blessing me powerfully through that service, but I was saddened to recognize my stubborn unbelief in that moment. Can you relate at all? Let’s look back at the story to see how God provides in, Exodus 16:21-23,

[21] Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. [22] On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, [23] he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”

God reiterates his command and introduces the Sabbath. The Sabbath is an important command for Israel, keeping the Sabbath will become one of the 10 commandments. We don’t have time to dig deeply into it but let me give a couple brief comments. First, notice that it is commanded before the ten commandments are given. Second, of the ten commandments, keeping the Sabbath is the only one not repeated in the New Testament. The Sabbath is mentioned a lot as a reference to time throughout the gospels and Acts, Jesus corrects the Pharisees wrong understanding of what was lawful on the Sabbath many times, and there are only two instances of the Sabbath in any of the epistles. One is in Colossians 2:16 about not letting people pass judgement with regard to a Sabbath. And the other in Hebrews 4:9 pointing to an eternal Sabbath rest to come. These things, along with others, tell me keeping the Sabbath is not a binding command in the new covenant but I do believe we it is a helpful concept to incorporate in life, and would encourage incorporating its design specifically on the days we gather for worship. Let’s continue in the passage to see why it is here in, Exodus 16:24-26,

[24] So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. [25] Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. [26] Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

We see Israel obeying at first, being assured the bread is good for eating the next day and told that none will be available to gather the next day but sadly, Israel’s stubborn unbelief kicks in again, Exodus 16:27-30,

[27] On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. [28] And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? [29] See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” [30] So the people rested on the seventh day.

We can be so stubborn in our trust of the Lord at times. We know what He has spoken but we just have to see for ourselves. This time, the response of the Lord is a moment of rebuke. He rebukes them for refusing to keep his commandments, reminds them of his command, and the people finally obey and rest. The command of God in this section and the Sabbath point to the sufficiency of His providence. God will provide exactly what we need and part of what we need is rest to remind ourselves of that. The point of the Sabbath was to pause and know that God is providentially caring for the people of Israel. It was to trust in the sufficiency of His providence that the bread gathered the day before would be enough to satisfy. In a similar way, it is wise for us to rest and seek to set our minds on Christ when we gather together on Saturdays, Fridays, or Sunday’s in your home country. To reignite a deep trust in our hearts in God’s sufficient providence. We come to the last section of our passage, in verses 31-36, where the word reveals,

Perpetual Faithfulness and Purposeful Remembrance 

It starts by describing the flake like substance that fed Israel in Exodus 16:31, [31] Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. I just love the description of it tasting like wafers made with honey. It wasn’t just bread but it was sweet and tasty bread. God is so generous to give what is good to his people, isn’t he? Pay attention to, Exodus 16:32-34, 

[32] Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” [33] And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.” [34] As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.

By now, it has become painfully obvious how short of a memory span the Israelites had. At the first sign of difficulty, they forget the faithfulness of God. In tests of trust, they stubbornly don’t trust in God’s word. So, in great wisdom, God encourages them towards purposeful remembrance. He tells them to take an omer of  manna and keep it throughout their generations as a visual representation of God’s providential and miraculous provision in the wilderness. This is a reminder of our need to remember all the Lord has done for us. We, like Israel, have short memory spans. This is the primary purpose of communion. We purposefully set out to remember all that Christ is for us as we think on His death for us, the payment of our sins, and how it satisfied God’s wrath towards all our sin. We also purposefully remember this through song, by gathering to hear from His word weekly, and by speaking often of the cross and resurrection. We need to purposefully set out to remember. The Final thing we see in this passage is God’s perpetual faithfulness. Look at Exodus 16:35-36,

[35] The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. [36] (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

For forty years as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God provided the manna. Each morning enough was there to sustain them for over 14000 days. Every sixth day enough was available for the seventh, and every seventh the Israelites were able to rest in God’s faithfulness. This is even more astounding when we realize they were in the wilderness this long because of their sin and disobedience.   

Conclusion:
This passage has so many challenging applications for us to consider. Whether it be reflecting on our own temptations to grumble, challenging our hearts to listen and obey the word of the Lord, thinking through how it might be beneficial for us to consider taking a Sabbath rest to remind ourselves of God’s sufficient providence, or thinking over what ways we are purposefully remembering what God has done for us, there is a take away for each of us. Yet, there is an even greater significance of this passage.

Like Israel, we all are in need of life giving water. And Jesus Christ says,

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7:37).

Like Israel, we need the bread of heaven to truly sustain us. And Jesus Christ says,

“[51] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:51). 

As Israel needed rest from its laboring in the wilderness, we long for rest. And Jesus Christ says,

“[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

He is the our living water. He is our sustaining bread of life. In Him we find true and everlasting rest. He is with us to guide us through the wilderness and faithful to bring us to glory. The great hymn writer Fanny Crosby perfectly provides the words for our hearts in response through her hymn “All the Way My Savior Leads Me” which I will end with,

All the way my Savior leads me,
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a thirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way;
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.

Please stand with me as I pray this over us.