Bitter Waters Made Sweet

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

Bitter Waters Made Sweet
By Rev. William Dohle


There is a patch of highway every person should drive at least once in their life.  It stretches from Las Vegas, Nevada to Barstow, California and it is one of the most desolate and barren roads you will ever take.

Between these two cities lies a wasteland of nothing.  Nothing but high desert mountains and dry desert plains and lots and lots and lots of Joshua Trees!

My wife and I use to travel this desert often in the year we spent in Victorville, California, going to and from one of our favorite vacation places: Las Vegas!  In the midst of this two hour drive, my mind would often wander.  Staring out at the freeway before me, my thoughts would wander onto the mountainsides around me and out into the plains. I'd wonder, even in the midst of the scorching heat of a hundred degree day, what life would be like walking through the wilderness, stranded out in the middle of nowhere, with no gasoline-powered vehicle to keep you cool.  What would that be like?

I never wanted to find out, and thankfully I never had to.  Being stranded anywhere is no fun, especially in the desert, where your biggest worry isn't the wild animals, but water!

That's what Israel faced as it moved on from the Red Sea.  They had seen God's power at work.  They walked over the sea as if it were dry land.  Pharaoh's army was defeated.  No one was coming after them.  The "God-car" had taken them from slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, and now out in the desert.

But just like that, the hope they had ridden this far suddenly gave out on them.  Now, just a short ways from the Red Sea, they had already spent three days traveling in the desert with no water.

No wonder the people got cranky!  No wonder they started forgetting what God had done.  This God, who they had relied on more than we rely upon our cars today, had suddenly given out on them.  And here they were stranded without water!

And then they found it.  A pool of water!  They came to a place called Marah, but alas we are told they could not drink.  They couldn't drink the water because the water itself was bitter!

But God doesn't leave them in a ditch.  God doesn't leave them stranded again.  Instead, with a simple piece of wood, and the power of God, the water becomes sweet!  The bitter water is transformed into good water for all.

How often we have struggled in our own lives with thirst?  And how often has the water we thought would be our salvation turned out to be bitter?  Even if God has worked his wonders just a few weeks ago, we may start to feel like stranded, as if this God we've trusted in has abandoned us.

"Why, God?  Why have you taken this from us?"
"Why is my family falling apart?  I thought you were here to keep us together!"
"Why did the bank foreclose on my home?  I thought you were here to keep me safe!"
"Why am I facing this disease now?  Haven't I suffered enough?"
"Why did I lose my job?  I thought you wanted me secure!"

We can start to feel like the Israelites did, grumbling against God, saying "What are we to drink?"

And yet God still provides.  Even at the bitter springs of our lives, there is hope.  Even there, there are those people who act like that piece of wood, throwing themselves in the middle of the bitterness to make it sweet.  At the bitter springs of life, there are people who act in extraordinary ways to bring us food and drink and comfort in our time of need.  They are God, coming to us in the flesh and bone of our neighbors and friends.  They are our miracles.

Back at Christmas 2003, my father-in-law passed away in Phoenix.  Driving down to the funeral, I felt lost.  I couldn't imagine what my poor wife was feeling.  At the service itself, I don't remember much.  I don't remember what the pastor said or anything.  But I do remember one vase of flowers.  It was from our church back in Colorado.  "A little comfort in your time of sorrow." It said.

That was it.  That little vase of flowers was God's piece of wood, thrown into the bitterness of loss.  It did nothing for the grief, but it did everything for our spirits.

I wonder what that piece of wood Moses threw into the water look like.  I wonder... did it look like a cross?  Because God, faced with the bitter waters of life, threw a piece of wood with his Son out into it.  And, because He did, our waters are sweet.

God of life, have mercy on us.  Even when we feel stranded in the desert without water, give us hope that, through your Son, our bitterness may become sweet.  Amen.