Dear Family, 

Today is Sunday, April 19, 2020; this is Day 8; and, it is Day 1 of Week 2, in our Counting toward Pentecost.  

The second week is known as the Week of Changing the Water of Marah. The word Marah means bitterness.

Exodus 15:22-25 (22) So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.  (23) And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore the name of it was called Marah.  (24) And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?  (25) And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.

Finding no water was no surprise to God. However, the Israelites failed to see God’s purpose in this experience and murmured.  Israel had traveled for three days into a vast, challenging wilderness called the Wilderness of Shur.  The word shur means the wall.  This vast wilderness is described in Deuteronomy 8:15 as “that great and terrible wilderness.”  And, in Deuteronomy 32:10 it is described as “a desert land,” and “the waste howling wilderness.”

Indeed, the wilderness posed great potential hardship to a large group of people fresh out of slavery.  Yet, this group of people had just been miraculously delivered by the mighty hand of God.  Israel’s enemies were left dead upon the sea shore (Exodus 14:30).  And, God’s people saw “that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians” (v.31).

There are many lessons to be drawn from Israel’s experiences during this second week of counting toward Pentecost.  We will look at some of these lessons in the next few days.

God bless you with spiritual insight and wisdom!

Ben Faulkner
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