Exodus 15:1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Exodus 15 is perhaps the oldest poem in the world, literally. I mean that in the literary sense and the concrete sense. Exodus 15:1 says, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD.” They sang this on the occasion of God’s vanquishing the armies of Egypt and His providing for and protecting the people of Israel. It is a wonderful poem, and parts of it are repeated both in the Psalms and in the book of Isaiah.
Verse 2 says famously, “The LORD is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation.” Verse 3 says, “The LORD is a man of war.” This is a God Who is gracious to His people, but He is also a God to be feared. He is a God of power and might, and He is a God of mercy. It is interesting that verse 13 says, “Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.” So, you have both mercy and strength, mercy on Israel and strength against Egypt. What a marvelous poem of God’s power and God’s mercy!
How ironic, then, it is that at the end of that wonderful poem we begin such a different song beginning in verse 22. This is perhaps the oldest song or sentiment in the world. When Israel came into the wilderness, they found no water. Verses 22-23 tell us that “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. And the people murmured against Moses.”
How amazing that the people who had praise and gratitude in their hearts just prior changed very quickly when things turned just a bit. They doubted God, despaired, and began to murmur. Verse 25 says, “And he [Moses] 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.”
What a contrast! It is a contrast between a poem of praise and a chorus of complaining. These people whom God had led out of Egypt started murmuring the very moment there was a question at all about their provision. They went from praising God to murmuring against Moses, which really was an accusation against God.
Don’t we do the same thing? We can look back and see how God has provided, protected, and guided, yet when the least thing goes wrong, or perhaps in a long season of need, we despair and murmur. Well, let me tell you that a God Who will hold the water back will certainly not let you die of thirst. When it came to the Red Sea, there was too much water. When it came to the wilderness, there was not enough water. A God Who is sufficient for one is certainly sufficient for both.
Friend, wherever you may find yourself today, realize that a God Who won’t let you be swept away with the flood will certainly not let you die of thirst.