August 28 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Exodus 15:22–25

Devotional

In our text, the bitterness becomes sweet, but the crosses of bitterness need not always be changed. There will always be thorns in the flesh that we need to have with us. But still the bitterness is taken out of these “Marahs.” When the grace of the Lord descends upon our “Marah,” then tears may not cease, but they do change.

Change does not make the children of God indifferent in their suffering. No, they feel the sorrow much more than the world. In the world people throw up their hands in powerless defiance and say, “We will have to learn to live with it.” But the Lord never makes His children indifferent to suffering. When God’s friendly countenance shines on this suffering, then we have enough in the Lord. With God all things are well. We can agree with the apostle Paul, “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10). Then our suffering becomes a blessed “Marah,” a sweet bitterness. The greatest praises of thanksgiving are found in the deepest trials. Christ becomes precious and His accursed tree becomes sweet.

All sufferings would be a sign of God’s wrath and desertion without Christ. Bitterness would truly be deep bitterness. It makes all the difference whether God is for or against us in our sufferings. That is why the awful sufferings of Christ were so bitter, because He had God against Him. It was not only the pain of the wounds when He was nailed on that tree, but it was that God had given Him these wounds. This was the most painful part of all His sufferings.

Do you also have a “Marah,” a deep way, a heavy cross, a bitter disappointment, a secret sorrow, or a desperate longing for something you have lost? Where did this bring you? Did it perhaps bring you into despondency, or did you become hardened by it? By nature you cannot resist such behavior. Without grace you break out in self-pity and self-justification.

Have these deep ways ever brought you to see the bitterness of your own sin? Be sure of this: the Lord never chastises for the sake of chastising. Do not have harsh thoughts about God. The Lord’s purpose is that you come to His throne as a guilt-ridden person. God always smites the sinner to cause him to return for healing. Then even bitter chastisements are tokens of His love for sinners. You may experience that in bitterness lies hidden the sweetness of grace. Sometimes God causes His people to suffer because of His love, and through these sufferings He brings people to fall at the knees of God. And where are matters sweeter than with the Lord? The drawing love of the Lord always causes love in return. This love unites you to God. It is a reciprocal love and you learn to be thankful for your chastisements. You learn to confess: “I have made everything bitter, but the Lord has made everything sweet.”

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.