Bitter Waters

“Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.” Exodus 15:25

The Israelites were thirsty…they were tired…they were scared…they were weary from traveling days on end with nothing to quench their parched mouths. Then, in the distance they see a pool of water. They begin frantically running with a new found energy, a new found hope and a new found belief. The water turns out to be bitter!

Our family was sad...we were scared…we were weary from the terminal prognosis. Then, with a new found faith we believed in the earthly healing, we ran towards the comfort of belief in a pending miracle, and an emergence of faith and testimony. Then, in the end she dies.

How many times does life throw a defeat on the edge of victory? How many times are we almost at the finish line and turn the bend realizing another stretch of long dry road? The bitter waters of life prove too much for us as it doesn’t provide anything quenching but fosters disappointment, frustration and more bitterness.

We have to believe that victory will be ours when God reaches down and “throws the wood” into our situation to sweeten the water. Sweetening the water doesn’t always mean we get what we desire but rather provides what it is that God knows will quench our dry thirst. We cannot look at one oasis and decide that all waters will be bitter but rather trust the individual God with our individual circumstances. “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” Hebrews 3:14.

Just because your waters were bitter in one part of your journey don’t allow your confidence in the next oasis to wane and miss out on the sweetness and refreshment of your next trek of the journey.