Page 42 - Living Light Autumn 23

THIS WEEK’S BIBLE INSIGHTS ARE BY:
Cara Grant and are based on Exodus 15:22-27 (NIV)
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ON THIS WEEK’S MAJOR THEME:
Psalm 32
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they travelled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.)
24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’ 25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord,
and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
There the Lord issued a ruling and
instruction for them and put them to the test. 26 He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.’
27 ThentheycametoElim,where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
Sunday October 15 - A desert journey
Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of
Shur...they travelled in the desert without finding water. Exodus 15:22
One very hot summer day, we walked our little family miles across the Dorset countryside, to see a village, evacuated in the war, and still deserted. We took very little water with us, planning to stop in the village café; however, there was no café, only an ancient village water tap labelled, ‘Undrinkable’! We carried our little ones back, in blistering heat, seriously fearing dehydration.
When God’s people faced genocide at the hands of Pharaoh’s armed forces, God snatched them from death’s snarling jaws and brought them safely through the Red Sea – and they rejoiced with fantastic praise songs, and prophetic prayers that echo into eternity (verses 1-18)! Three days later, however, thousands of weary families – men, women, babes in arms – trudging south along the desert road, were unable to source drinking water. No one was panicking yet – maybe some still murmured snatches of praise songs – but the fear of death by dehydration was growing in their hearts, and you can feel the tension rising.
Does your life feel like a desert – fearful, with no easy solutions? Have you known God’s goodness in the past, but not in this difficulty, this unfamiliar territory? I pray that our knowledge of God’s love for us will deepen this week, as we hear him draw his ‘desert people’ close and speak his words of love and faithfulness into our own situation.
Father, in my suffering and fear please draw me close in Jesus, to know and trust your love and goodness. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY