Welcome to our summer teaching series “The Wanderers”

Over the next several weeks we will trace the story of God’s people as they were brought up out of Egypt and began their journey through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.

It’s a story full of God’s Grace, Mercy, and Faithfulness. It’s also a story of God’s patience with people. An idolatrous, unfaithful, and quick to complain group of people that God desired to enter covenant relationship with.

The Children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years, and the moment came at the Red Sea when he delivered his people from the bondage of Egypt. God literally parted the waters allowing his people to pass through on dry ground.

Today we rejoin the children of Israel in Exodus chapter 15, just a few days after this event, facing yet another challenge. This time the enemy was not in the form of chariots, but in the form of dehydration.

They had no water in the desert…

-Modern science says that the human body can go three days without water, no more. So, the people of God in this passage were desperate. They could not have gone on much longer. And they knew it.
-Just as the Lord was their only hope when they were facing the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, so now, in different circumstances, God is their only hope yet again.

A brief timeline of what happened:
1. The people are desperate.
2. They grumble and complain (again!).
3. God meets their need, even though they are faithless.
4. God makes a promise to them about His future protection.
5. The promise is contingent on their obedience.
6. Finally, God endorses this promise by bringing them to a paradise!

As we read the story today, many of us can relate to the pain and frustration the Israelites are experiencing:
-Of course, they are frustrated, they haven't had water in three days
-Of course, they are complaining, what else are they supposed to do?

All of us have been there at some point in our lives. Some of us are there right now: that desert season.

There is a powerful metaphor here within the story:
-They arrive desperate for water and it’s almost cruel. They do find water.
But they can’t drink it. It's unsafe and certainly undesirable.
-It’s so easy to make judgments about God in those situations…that He’s distant and uncaring, that He’s forgotten you.
-But the truth is, God can make something sweet out of your bitter.