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Exodus 15:3 ESV

3 The Lord is a man of war;the Lord is his name.

Exodus 15:22-27 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.” 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

I. THE RHYTHM IS GONNA GET YA’ (3, 22-24)
A. The rhythm of life for Jesus & His people is seamlessly going from the winner’s circle to the wilderness. (Matthew 3:16-4:1)
B. The rhythm of life for Jesus’ followers is going from faith to fear in the blink of an eye.

II. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR THE DESERT (25b-27)
A. God uses the desert to both test us and teach us to trust Him.
B. The purpose of the desert is to make us better, not bitter people.
C. The test in the desert doesn’t last forever, but God’s desire to do good for His people does.

III. FAILURE WITH A CAPITAL “F” (24)
A. Israel fails their test spectacularly, so Jesus has come & passed the test gloriously. (Matthew 5:17-18)
B. The great problem of man is not that we don’t believe Jesus has done something, but that He has done the whole thing.

NEXT STEP (25a)
1. God offers to heal us and make the bitterness of life turn sweet through His miraculous use of a piece of wood, the cross.
2. Faith truly is the antidote to a life of fear and trying to fix ourselves.

NEXT WEEK: Exodus VI: Rest Exodus 16:22-29