Sweet Waters

“...and the water became sweet.”  Exodus 15:25

I have never forgotten what I heard a pastor say many years ago.  I don’t recall the pastor’s name but I haven’t forgotten his message. Whenever I am tempted to have the wrong attitude, I remember the above scripture and the simple story that the pastor shared and my heart begins to change.  Maybe after I share the story with you - it will bless you too.

First I must take you back when Moses just had led the people on from the Red Sea and moved the people out into the wilderness of Shur.  As they were traveling through the wilderness, they went three days without water. After finally arriving at the waters of Marah, they discovered that they could not drink from the pool because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah – Marah means bitter.) The people turned against Moses and said, “Must we die of thirst?” They demanded that Moses give them water.

The Bible says that Moses pleaded with the Lord to help them, and the Lord showed him a tree to throw into the water, and the water became sweet and drinkable.  The LORD did not need the tree to make the water sweet.  However, the use of the tree made the miracle of the cleansing easier for the people to perceive.

The pastor shared this story and then said, “When people are bitter (harsh, resentful, cynical, hard to bear) all they need to do is turn to Jesus and He will make your bitter waters sweet.” Sometimes however, that is not our first response when things are not going our way or when we feel we have been mistreated.  As was with the people who were traveling through the desert, sometimes our first response is to have an unbelieving, grumbling, and sour attitude.

The definition of sweet is: Pleasing, delightful, amiable; kind or gracious, dear, beloved and precious – just writing these words puts a smile on my face.

When we are being tempted to become bitter in our approach to life, resist the temptation - turn to Jesus and ask Him to make your bitter situation, sweet and delightful!  

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19