What was the first trial Israel faced after entering the desert?
The first trial Israel faced after coming into the forbidding desert was thirst: they had no water, their cattle bellowed and sheep bled, and the water they finally found was bitter and unfit to drink. When the people murmured against Moses, he cried to the Lord, who showed him a tree that made the water drinkable.
Les explains that Israel came down into a forbidding desert, and God did not just give them a hunk of roses. They would go through trying times, and the first trial came right off the bat: they were thirsty, their cattle were bellowing, their sheep were bleeding, and there was no water. When they did find water, it was a bitter disappointment because it was not fit to drink. The people murmured against Moses, asking what they should drink, so Moses cried unto the Lord. The Lord showed him a tree, which he threw into the water to make it fit to drink. Les teaches that the tree throughout Scripture points to the cross, the place of curse, where God poured out His wrath upon our Passover lamb. So when they came to a bitter experience, there was only one remedy: the cross. Likewise, when a trial or tribulation comes, we should go to the foot of the cross.
So Moses brought 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.
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