Choosing to Remember

​“Then Moses led 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.  When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter; for that reason it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’ Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.”  Exodus 15:22-25

It's easy to be tempted to forget what the Lord has brought you from when you experience a difficult trial shortly after a great victory.  So how do you face your new battle?​

​Three days had passed since the great Red Sea miracle when the children of Israel saw how the Lord separated the waters of the Red Sea as a wall and allowed them to completely walk through to the other side of the sea unharmed (Exodus 14:21-31).  Immediately after, they sang of their enemies’ demise and rejoiced in the victory and deliverance God provided from the hundreds of years of oppression and harsh enslavement.  But now, three days later, they continued to walk through the wilderness and as the hours and the days passed, they could not find water.  They then came to the waters of Marah but they could not drink the water because it was bitter.

Notice in verses 24-25, the children of Israel grumbled to Moses, but Moses cried out to the Lord. Moses was not the one in enslavement and he did not need to be delivered from Egypt. The children of Israel were the recipients of God’s grace and mercy as they were delivered from Pharaoh and the Egyptians. But, they chose to grumble to Moses instead of cry out to the Lord. When they chose to grumble, they were choosing to forget all that the Lord had done and all that He was more than capable of doing. They instead chose to complain against Moses and to blame him for their experience. Yes, we can definitely agree that not finding water when you need it and are searching for it for any length of time can be very frightening, especially in the wilderness! Yet we read that Moses cried out to the Lord in prayer for help in a difficult and desperate situation. When Moses chose to cry out instead of grumble, he chose to remember the greatness of the Lord and he cried out to the One that he knew would respond and take action to answer his plea in his time of need (Exodus 15:25-27).

Are you experiencing a battle that seems insurmountable? Are you tempted to forget what the Lord has done in your past victories? God is aware of your tests and trials because He is allowing them. Choose to remember the greatness of our God. Choose to remember the victories that He has given you in battles that would have been lost in defeat without His Divine intervention. Choose to remember that He alone is the One who can respond in your time of need and answer your prayer. There will be plenty of faith-shaking moments after great victories that will tempt us to forget the sovereignty, goodness, and greatness of our God and to dismiss or minimize what the Lord has done. In those moments don’t grumble, blame, and complain but cry out! Crying out to the Lord is choosing to remember (Psalm 34:17; Psalm 50:15).