Same Struggle, Different Outcomes: Passing Life's Tests (Beshalach) | Land of Israel Fellowship

This coming week we're getting to the portion of Bishalah with uh the Exodus and the splitting of the sea. You know, there's so much drama in uh this coming weeks in this week's para that sometimes the stories that come after the dramatic splitting of the sea kind of uh get lost. But they're really really foundational stories. They're very very important and they're the stories of the pattern of what will happen to us on our way out of slavery when we're being redeemed. It's like when we're in this is these are the first stories that are happening to Israel in normal life in real life when you're not being controlled by somebody else when you're actually out living in the world. And so these are very very important stories for us to understand. I want to look at two of the stories two stories about seeking water. Okay, we have two stories in this portion about Israel wandering around the desert looking for water. In both cases, they're wandering and you know, if you guys can imagine, like it's so hard with children and animals facing thirst. Um, and both times, Hashem reveals that the solution is actually there right along. They just couldn't see it. Um, [snorts] Hashem doesn't drop water. God doesn't make it suddenly rain uh or have a geyser burst out of the earth. Uh the way he kind of brings the mana mysteriously and and miraculously in the story that's between these two uh thirst stories. In both of the water seeking stories, they essentially discover that the water was actually the solution at least for for their thirst was actually there all along. In the first case, there's this tree right there that fixes the water. And in the second case, uh, they just need to take a good swack at the rock and the water was just behind it. So it happens twice in the portion. Really, really similar experiences, but the response of the people is very different and the response of God is very different. So I want to look at these two stories when they're two seemingly very similar stories. They're really calling us to tease out, okay, well, why do we need both of these stories? What are they coming to teach us? What is the difference between them? What's being highlighted? So I want to go and look at these stories for a moment. The first time we face thirst is in chapter 15 in verse 22 in Mara says that Moses made the Israelites set out from the sea of reeds and they walked into the shore desert for 3 days in the desert without finding any water. You can imagine like the flasks of water that they brought from Egypt are running out and like getting less and less and the kids are getting thirstier and thirstier and they came to Mara but they could not drink the water from the stream for the water was bitter and that's why it was named Mara and the people complained against Moses and said what should we drink? So he cried out. Moses cried out and God showed him a tree and he threw a branch of it into the water and the water became sweet and it was there that God gave him rule and ordinance and there he tested them. So this is a very interesting verse, right? Like what are we what is the rule? What is the what is God teaching us and what is God testing us? He's giving us something. He's testing us something. And then that's kind of the end of the story except for that Hashem says um Hashem next says if you diligently heed the voice of God and do what is upright carefully listening to all the commandments. He just gave us commandments. We don't really know what they are and observing all the rules. We don't know what they are either. If you do that then I will bring you none of the illnesses that I brought upon Egypt. Uh uh uh um for I I won't bring you any of those illnesses for I am God who heals you. So what catches my eye here is what is the test? like what does it mean to be tested and did they pass? You know, sometimes Jeremy will see me running around like a crazy lady uh all busy with all my tasks and he'll you know juggling a million things and I'll be like are you running a race? Um did you win? Are you winning? Because it looks like you're running a race but I can't tell if you're winning and I always kind of pause and be like am I winning? I'm not really sure. So what is the test here? Are they winning? Now I want to look at the second story in Rifid for a second just to compare. The second time we don't have water is in Rifid. This is in chapter 17. The entire community of the Israelites moved on from the sin desert on their journey according to the word of God. They encamped Rifodim and there was no water for the people to drink. Okay, so far sounds familiar. Now listen to the uh response. The people contended with Moses and said, "Give us water so that we may drink." And Moses answered them, "Why are you contending with me? Why are you testing God?" And the people thirsted there for water. And the people complained against Moses, saying, "Why did you bring us from Egypt to make us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?" And then Moses cries out to God, saying, "What should I do for these people? Before long, they're going to stone me." And then God said to Moses, "Pass in front of the people, take the elders of Israel, and take the staff that you used to strike the Nile River, and go. I will be standing before you there at the rock in Horeb, and you have to strike the water. Uh, strike the rock and water will flow out, and the people will drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he named the place Masa and Mariva testing in contention because of the people's contentiousness and because they had tested God by saying, "Is God present among us or not?" Okay, so two really similar stories, but the responses have very different energies. Right guys? In both cases, we hear this phrase of testing, but instead of in the first story, it seems to be God testing Israel. In the second story, it seems to be Israel testing God. Now, if in the first story it was a test, now that we see how how the response could have been in Rifidim, what can we say about the first story? When I first read that first story in Mara, I'm like, hm, did they pass the test? Did they not? I'm not sure. But it comparatively to the second story, suddenly they look a lot better. So, before [snorts] we get into what the test was, it was this a pos the first story, is it a positive story or a negative story? I want to like try to understand. So seemingly, you know, sometimes the Torah won't tell us these people did the wrong thing. These people made a mistake. Sometimes we have to just tease it out and judge for ourselves. If we go back to the first thirst story, how does the story end? It says there was a test. We're not told if they passed the test, and we don't know. I mean, they're kind of complaining. Is it good? Is it bad? We don't really know. But the very next story that follows that story is they came to Ailim where there were 12 springs of water and 70 date palms and they camped there by the water. Meaning, however you cut it up, that first story seems to have ended pretty pleasantly. What directly happens after the second water story in Rifidim? The very next story to happen is the very next one like the very next verse. And Amal came and fought against Israel and Rifid. So we have two stories. One ends in a desert spa and one ends with meeting Amalcch. When I look at the stories, there are similar challenges. Um, you know, no water, this is hard. There's a shortage. These are these are the kinds of problems that we any, you know, everybody would face, like lack of resources, something's not working out, I'm having a setback in my life. And it would seem to me when I'm reading these stories like the Torah is taking us to this crossroads where the roads split. Like you're all going to face issues like you feel like you're in the desert without water. You are lost. You don't have what you need. You feel like you can't survive whatever you're going through. And you come to this crossroads. Are you going to go to Mara or are you going to Rifid? And it's like it's like this it's like this split. And they split. And where does each one of them end? The road to Marrah ends in an oasis and the road uh to Rifidim ends being attacked by Amal Amalcch, the most evil force of all. So it's a really important crossroads to know how to navigate. And so we have to look really carefully at the response of Israel to these challenges in each of these stories in order to make sure like how do you know how to navigate that you're following the right path that goes to the that goes to the the spa with 12 springs and not to Amalikch. So you know neither story strikes one when you're reading it as perfect. Like maybe if they were perfect angels they would just be like oh there's no water but we're being guided by Hashem. It's okay. Everything will be fine. Everything's going to be super. That would be really nice, right? But there but like people are people. We're not like that. They're not like that. The Torah is real. How do real people act in that situation? That's where this crossroad is. So I want to go back to the story of Mara and look at carefully. What is the way that they complain? Complaining is not great, but how do they complain? Verse [snorts] 24. Look how concise the complaint is. Look how precise it also is. What should we drink? We as the readers know all the other complaining stories that are going to happen in the desert and how beautifully simple this complaint is. And it ends with them ending up in this beautiful oasis of 12 springs. There's something just so beautiful about the simplicity here of the complaint. Like the Torah does not expect us to be angels that don't have any questions or pain or even complaints, but the simplicity of what should we drink? It's like a child saying, "Aba, I'm thirsty. What should I drink? Aba, it's hard for me. Where are you? Can you help me?" [snorts] That is the blueprint that ultimately leads them to passing the test because it says in the end, this is the place where Hashem tested them. And ultimately, we don't see them being punished. So, we can understand, we even see them being rewarded so we can understand they pass the test. That is it's a simple short single sentence blueprint for passing the test. Compare that to what they say in Rifidim. The people thirsted for water and said, "Why'd you bring us from Egypt to make us, our children, our livestock die of thirst?" And Moses cries out saying, "What am I going to do? They're going to stone me." These two verses are a masterclass in everything that you can do wrong when life hits a hard bump. Because what do we have just packed into these two tiny verses? Number one, why'd you bring us out of Egypt? Meaning, what is the exact thing that you're supposed to not do when you face a challenge? I'm going to ruminate on the past. Oh, if only I hadn't done this. If only I hadn't done that. If only we hadn't left Egypt. Number two, catastrophizing the future. Who doesn't like I mean, who does not fall into this? Guilty is charged right here. Like the worst possible outcome. It's not that we're going to be thirsty. Maybe we're going to get dehydrated and get a migraine. I'm going to die. My children are going to die. My animals are going to die. We're all going to die. Like total cat. The worst case scenario of as bad as things can be, that is what I'm 100% convinced is going to be. Number three, what else do we do when we're facing a challenge? What else can we do wrong? Right? Blaming. Not why is Hashem doing this to me? I wonder if I should maybe repent. Maybe I have something a place to grow. Oh it's you. It's you who did this to us. And then number four, what do we do when we're facing something really challenging? Be really grumpy to everyone else. They're not like just talking. They're actually standing there with stones in their hands. They're about to kill him. Like we get aggressive to our family, yell at people, get real grumpy and and get in a bad mood and make everyone else, you know, just almost as miserable as we are, right? And then you just kind of go back to the comparison tomorrow. Aba, what should I drink? Aba, what should I drink? The refidian posture is so different. All this junk getting thrown into this conversation. And for me, this really touched me because I I have such a tendency to this when I'm having a hard time to like instead of just I know that the right thing to do when something is going wrong is just stay focused on the immediate need like how okay this is the problem. How do I put one foot in front of the other and like just work on the problem at hand. If Jeremy is, you know, doing something I don't like. Jeremy, could you please pick up that dish? That would be the right approach. You don't ever clean up your dishes. You're never going to clean up your dishes. And your mother never cleans her dishes either. Sorry, Emma, if you're here. I love you. You always clean your dishes. But you know, as an example, no one in your family cleans the dishes and you've never cleaned the dishes. We never even should have gotten married, right? That is the wrong way. That is the Rifid path to dealing with a bump in your, you know, in your relationship. The c the the mara path would be like this dish needs to go in the sink, dear. Just like what should I drink? Facing the exact problem that we have. Things aren't working. You know, uh it can happen in so many areas of life when things just aren't working quite out. Uh the surefire way to make a bad situation worse is to do those four steps of riffide. And if you do that, like you thought it was bad being thirsty, wait till you meet Amalecch because they're going to make being thirsty seem real fun in retrospect. That it it because they're they're they're terrifying. You can always Rifid teaches us that you could always take a bad situation and make it a little or a lot worse. And now if we go back to the Mara story, I want to just look back and it says that you know God um showed him this branch and it became sweet and there God gave him rules and ordinance and rules and ordinance and tested them. What is the test? What is the law? What is going on here? So there are a lot of interpretations. Some say, "Uh, maybe the law was to learn about Shabbat. Maybe the law was to learn about this or that." But I'm reading none of those are satisfying explanations because why wouldn't the Torah just tell us what the law is so we could follow it, too? Don't we want to follow laws? I think the most compelling explanation that I've seen for what are these laws and rules and ordinances that God gave us at Marra. The explanation that I the most compelling one that I saw was in the Raog and also hinted at I noticed in the was that the law was this very story. It's not telling you what the law is because it just told you the story. It's a life law. It's a life rule. It's not a law of a technical action. Do this. Light the candles before Shabbat. It's a law about a spiritual posture and the law of what will happen when you have that spiritual posture. When you face adversity and you cry out to Hashem in simplicity, in humility, Hashem, I need you. I'm human. I'm thirsty. Show me the way. I have this need. I need you. I can't do it without you. You will ultimately find your way. You will not only ultimately find your way, you will find your way to a beautiful resolution. So I think that's also so so it's like I think that's just so interesting that the story itself would seem to be a life lesson and it's a life lesson that they had to learn before they get to Sinai and learn the actual laws. There's like laws that are deeper than 613 commandments and maybe even deeper than uh the ten commandments. It's something we had to learn before all that that we call just remember that Hashem is our Abba that we call out to in humility and simplicity and he will guide the way that like it's it's it's it's deeper and more like it's it's it's it's more um it's more it's more foundational than than anything else. And I also want to think about what does it mean that Hashem tested them? And with that, I'll finish up. Something really interesting that my monity points out about. I just love Hebrew because the word for test in Hebrew, nisa also means comes from the word n, which is like a banner or a flag, something that you lift up. When you think of a test, a test is like something that you do when you want to know the answer. Could be one way, could be the other way. I want to test if my shoes are waterproof, so I'll go jump in a puddle. Going to find out. I'll find out the good news or the bad news. One way or the other, right? Hashem though knows our hearts. Why would he test us? Amazingly, this Hebrew word actually means to lift something up. Meaning, when Hashem puts us in a test, it's not cuz he's wondering like, hm, how much can I bother Jim today before he gets really grouchy? Let's see like what I can do to him. It's it's more like how can I lift Jim up to be more than what he is right now. It's not a quiz. It's a a ladder. It's not like trying to figure out Hashem knows our hearts. He's not trying to figure he doesn't need to test us to figure out our hearts, but to raise us up and to develop us. When Hashem gave Abraham 10 trials, was it like after seven, uh, I'm still not sure. Hashem still doesn't know. It's like, no, Hashem had 10 levels that he needed to lift Abraham up to see, for Abraham to see, for the world to see, for all the generations to see how high a person can ascend. That's what the tests actually are. But in rifim, what happens to you when you don't realize that Hashem is testing you? That the test is an opportunity to rise up rather than to make things worse and to drag everybody down. It says there that they tested Hashem. To test Hashem is not to lift God up and make him great. That's obvious from the context. He's doing okay without our help. He is on high without us uh having to test him. What does it mean there to test God? It said, the verse tells us, it says they tested God to see if he was in their midst or not. Meaning, if you follow the Rifid pattern, the second pattern, not only do you not get the opportunity to rise up, but you will ultimately, if you don't realize that Hashem is testing you and lifting you, you will ultimately actually get to that place where you start to doubt and need to test Hashem. Maybe Hashem is not even here. Maybe there's no point to any of this. Maybe my entire life is a series of coincidences that means nothing. And then what happens? Are you surprised that Amalecch shows up? Amalch is that is Amalecch's essence that doubt in Hashem. So this is a essentially a cautionary tale. The portion is giving us a cautionary tale. You will be tested. You can either recognize that the test is Hashem giving us a ladder, giving us an opportunity to grow. It might be hard. We might need to call out, "Aba, I need your help." But if we stay humbled and focused, we will get to the end point of a beautiful place. Or will we lose sight and take an already difficult situation, make it even harder through blame, regret, fear, aggression to the point that essentially we lose connection to Hashem's very presence in our lives and ultimately make ourselves vulnerable to Amalikch. That is the crossroads and that is the law that comes before all the other laws. The law is make sure to follow the right path and not the wrong one because you can end up somewhere beautiful or you can make things so much worse. >> Hey, that was a highlight from this week's land of Israel Fellowship. If you like that highlight, you'll love the land of Israel Fellowship. Find out more on the land of Isisrael.com. Join our global community from over 50 countries around the world that gather together every Sunday live from Israel. Check it out on the link below. [music]