:: Bitter ::
“Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet. …Then, they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.” - Exodus 15: 22-25a, 27
When was the last time you felt like you were in the desert?
I don’t mean the actual desert. Obviously, you can actually visit a desert. Let me save you a trip and tell you now, it’s just sand. Lots and lots of sand.
Have you ever felt like you’ve been in a desert spiritually? Emotionally? Mentally?
It looks like periods of time where you and your spouse are just distant from one another. It looks like a period of life where there just never is enough money and you cannot seem to gain ground. It looks like a long stretch of time where your daughter sets herself on a path of self-destruction. It looks like late nights spent talking to a friend who lost their son in a freak accident.
It looks like pain. Hopelessness. Despair.
There are times in life we just feel dry. We can feel empty. We feel like we’re walking through a barren wasteland and hope that at some point we’ll find water. We hope we’ll find refreshing that we so desperately crave and need.
We come upon the story of Marah as Moses is causing the Israelites to set out from the Red Sea and into the desert, the barren wasteland. They set out from the food and water available at the sea and headed out into the unknown, traveling for three days with no water.
They were thirsty.
Three days in the hot sun and they were thirsty. Anyone would be. And just when it seems like they’d faint from thirst, they come upon water. WATER! At the first taste, they expect to find refreshment, but instead they find bitter, undrinkable water.
I don’t know about you, but I feel their pain. When we wander in the desert of our situations and circumstances, we often get so desperate that we’re willing to accept ANYTHING as relief from the desert. To feel like peace and refreshment has come, only to find bitterness. It had to be heartbreaking.
This heartbreak made the Israelites grumble, but Moses sought God.
What if we sought God first, even if the water is bitter? What if we turned to our savior, the one who has worked miracles in our lives? Prayer should never be the last resort. It should be our first option and our most powerful defense.
Because so, so often, our miracle is close by. We’re too busy grumbling and sitting with arms crossed in the corner to see that if we’d simply ask God for our deliverance, it is close by. When we pray and ask God to make the bitter into sweet, he points us to our answers.
For the Israelites, their miracle was a tree right nearby that made the bitter into sweet. For us, it’s the extra hours you’ll be able to pick up at work in the next few weeks. It’s the wisdom to make the right decision. It’s the healing that you so desperately need. Sometimes, it’s the ability to find peace and joy in the midst of the storm.
God turns the bitter into sweet.
The greatest beauty is that he doesn’t just turn the bitter into sweet. He brings us into abundance. After he healed the waters of Marah for the Israelites, he led them to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they found their rest.
You may be at the streams of bitter water now, but your sweet is close by if you simply follow the example of Moses and ask God for it. And once you’ve been by the streams of bitter water for a time, God will bring you into a place of refreshing and peace.
Our God turns the bitter into sweet.