“ .. they couldn’t drink the water at Marah; it was bitter…. so Moses cried out in prayer to God. God pointed him to a stick of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and the water turned sweet.” Exodus 15: 22-25 MSG
” He [Jesus] was given bitterness twice to redeem us doubly from the curse of bitterness.”
We had recently relocated out of state. My husband had a job that took him out of town weekly, and I was often alone with two precious little ones. We had decided to move from our apartment to a home in a nearby city. As we narrowed our options, our decision was between two homes- one on Peace St., and one on Sourwood. ( I kid you not folks, sometimes reality is so much better than fiction!) You would think the decision was obvious, but sure enough we chose the house with less monthly rent….which was Sourwood. I should insert the SMH emoji here. The street name was prophetic and the house turned out to be a curse, not a blessing to us. We soon moved and returned to the state we had previously lived in, spiritually, physically and financially exhausted.
Sometimes, we are faced with bitter situations. Life doesn’t always play fair. People do us wrong, things don’t turn out the way we expect them to, moments we should enjoy are sometimes spoiled by bitter circumstances. The good news is that God has a special knack for making lemonade when life hands you lemons.
In Exodus 15, the children of Israel had been wandering through the desert and were understandably thirsty. They came to a place called Marah, which means “bitterness.” The place was named for the bitter waters there that were undrinkable. They cried out in despair and Moses went before the Lord again on their behalf.
God told him to cast a stick ( some called it a tree) into the waters and the water became sweet. Many theologians say the wood itself was bitter. The tree represented the bitterness of the cross and Jesus’ death for us.
When Jesus was on the cross, He was offered bitterness two times- wine and gall ( Matt. 27:33) and sour wine (Matt. 27:48). He was given bitterness twice to redeem us doubly from the curse of bitterness. Isaiah 61 says we can receive a two-fold recompense, or double blessing instead of shame.
After leaving Sourwood, God restored us in every area of our lives. We were able to build a home and were blessed with two little additions for a grand total of four amazing children!
Through the finished work of the cross, God is able to turn your bitter situations into something sweet.
Prayer:
God, I trust You to turn this situation around for my good and in my favor in ways that only You can. I believe that even now, You are working to make all bitter situations sweet in Jesus’ name and bring me double restoration.