Pastor Sullivan's Blog

1)          The sons of Israel had just witnessed the Lord’s great salvation at the Red Sea. With Pharaoh and his host drowned in Red Sea waters, Israel is finally free from their enemy. Pharaoh can no longer pursue them. Their taskmasters are in the past, never to torment them again. In this great freedom they set off into the wilderness of Shur under the guiding hand of their shepherd, Moses. But the Lord’s salvation worked at the Red Sea quickly becomes an event of the past with no meaning for the Israelites in the present. Three days into their journey they have no water. If I remember correctly, the old adage is that you can make it three days without water before you will die of dehydration. The Israelites, only three days after being miraculously saved by the Lord, are on the verge of death. To make matters all the more hopeless, when they do come upon a water source, the waters are bitter and undrinkable. So they call the place “Marah” for Marah in Hebrew means bitter. At d

1)          Jesus’ temptations are our temptations. Don’t you see the resemblance? Can you hear the serpent’s hiss? The Devil approaches Jesus and slyly suggests, “ If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. ” (Matthew 4:3) Externally, the temptation is to listen to your gurgling belly and fill it, obey your body’s desires. But it is a far more insidious than that. The Devil knows where Jesus had been forty days ago. He had heard the words of God the Father Almighty from heaven as Jesus emerged from baptismal water, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. ” (Matthew 3:17) His temptation is to doubt that publically spoken word of God given in baptism. “Why are you here, Jesus, in the middle of the desert, if you are God’s son? If your Father truly loves you and holds you dear why are you hungry? If your Father is really well pleased with you then why are you suffering so? Perhaps it is not true that you are the Father’s beloved son. Perhaps it i