Turning the Bitter to Sweet by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 1, 1911

Turning the Bitter to Sweet

By F. M. W.

The children of Israel had been delivered from the power of Pharaoh. A path had been made for them through the Red Sea, and they had passed over

on dry land. The Egyptians attempting to follow them were overthrown in the flood of waters. This marvelous deliverance should have set at rest every doubt. The manifestation of God's tender mercy and marvelous power should have enlisted the fullest consecration and deepest trust on the part of every soul, and no doubt many thought that never again in their experience would they doubt the Lord.

When Moses and the children of Israel sang the song of deliverance, when Miriam and all the women of Israel, with instruments of music, engaged in their triumphal march, no doubt every heart was filled with rejoicing. From Egyptian servitude, with its consequent depression and darkness, they had been raised by the interposition of God to the heights of triumph and joy. But they did not fully fathom the deeper underlying motives and purposes in their lives. They could rejoice in the hour of prosperity and success, but it yet remained to be seen whether they could carry that rejoicing into the hour of trial and difficulty.

They were brought in their journeyings into the wilderness of Shur, and for three days they traveled without finding water. Finally they reached Marah. Here is water in abundance, and in eagerness they welcome it. But hope is turned to disappointment; for the water is bitter, and the people are unable to drink it. This is an opportunity for them to demonstrate their faith in God, but here in the hour of darkness they fail. The record is that the people murmured against Moses, and in murmuring against Moses, they murmured against God and his providence. In his distress Moses cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which, when it was cast into the water, turned the bitter into sweet.

God had brought his people to this testing-time in order to prove them. He knew the character of the waters before he directed their journey thither. He knew what he would do in order to quench their burning thirst. How much better it would have been had Israel trusted to his providence! How blessed would have been their experience had they in confidence stood by with cheerful hearts and composed spirits, waiting for God to work out his purpose, and seeing how he would deliver them from their extremity! Surely, he who had visited upon Egypt the plagues of his wrath, who had made it possible for them to escape from their oppressors, and had cleaved for them the path through the Red Sea, was able in his own way to furnish water to satisfy their needs.

The lesson is for us. Many times in our experiences we are brought to Marah's brink. We thirst; and when we attempt to supply our need, the water is bitter. These experiences come to us as God's proving and testing, the same as to Israel of old. How many times do we, like them, murmur and complain. O, let us learn the lesson of confidence and trust, of waiting for God to work things out in his own way and time! If we trust him, he will literally verify his promise to us that "all things work together for good to them that love God." Let us, then, commit to him the tracings of our pathway; let us trust him to go before us as before ancient Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire, we patiently following where he leads.

Enemies may oppose us, evil tongues may speak against us, fire may consume our dwellings, disease may afflict our bodies, death even may enter our homes: let us not complain; let us not find fault with God; but believe that as we trust our cases in his hands, he will work everything out for our eternal good, and will give us in this life only just the treatment which he, as a wise Physician, sees that our cases need in order to fit us for the life to come. If we trust him, he will turn for us, in every experience, the bitter into sweet. F. M. W.