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Marah

What's in a name?
 

In Exodus 15: verses 23 - 25 we have an illustration of the God's willingness and of His ability to take the bitter experiences of life and to fill them with heavenly sweetness.

Bitter water turned sweet
 

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. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter  (Marah is from the Hebrew word meaning bitter). So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
 

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 sweet.

There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of 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."

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

Exodus 15:22-27 (NIV)

 

This is one of the many stories from the Bible, that show God's compassion to people in distress in spite of their grumblings. It was here at "Marah" that God restored sweetness to the bitter, polluted waters that were unfit to drink after hearing the prayer of Moses on behalf of His people. God promised to always be their healer if they would follow after Him.

The polluted water being purified at Marah is also a symbol of the poison of Egypt being stripped away and purified as  the piece of wood is plunged into the waters of baptism and new life, allowing the Israelites to move forward to the sweet waters of Elim.

The Marah Trust  was conceived to show God's love, compassion and grace to the people of the Stroud area who have been through the dessert and tasted bitter waters, like Moses we seek to be God's agents of healing and restoration to those who are lost, thirsty and in crises. Marah is not about yesterday’s mistakes Marah is about new life, new beginnings and new options for trying to get it right today and in the future. Marah is also about empowering the community to help Stroud’s people succeed.