7 MARTHA’S SABBATH LESSONS The Lord sweetens the bitter water of life August 14, 1887 Scripture: Exodus 15:24-26 “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Martha’s Thoughts: “We have here a chapter of rich Christian experience. We can look into this text we see a picture of ourselves when passing through this world. The subject of this text is bitter water sweetened. How the Lord makes the bitter things in life agreeable and pleasant. The water that was so bitter that they could not drink it was made sweet nourishing. In life we meet with many bitter trials and sorrows. We must expect this – and we need not expect the sorrows and disappointments of life taken away – but we may expect the Lord to sweeten them. This is the teaching of Job There shall be light in the cloud. It is the teaching of the Bible that at the Evening time it shall be light. The Sweetest foretaste We have of heaven here are these experiences in the dark days of adversity – If it were not for bitter water, we would not know what sweet water is. If it were not for the trials and the dark days of life we would not know so well the value of religion and the sustaining grace of God. Gold is pure – tried by fire – Fiery trials make Christians golden Now what are some of the bitter waters of life? Well the losses and crosses of life are bitter water – some times we have bitterness in our souls – sometimes in our homes – sometimes our dwelling places are not the abode of peace and love. When we take these bitter waters to God he shows us a tree which when we cast into the waters they are made sweet. God and Christ and the blessed Spirit and the angels come down and we have heaven in our home. This tree which God shows us – is the love of God – the love of Jesus – the love and blessing of the holy Spirit. The introduction of Sin into the world were sweetened and called forth the song of redeeming love – The death of Christ was bitter water – a bitter night the darkest of sorrow of suffering of horror the world ever saw – So-it-was a night of triumph and of victory it called forth the glorious songs and anthems of the redeemed! In our own experience all along our journey we find that the bitter waters have been sweetened. And at the close of our journey the bitter water of death have been sweetened. In the Lords chemistry there is a solvent by which even the bitter waters of death have been made sweet. The Lord throws some of the healing leaves into the stream, When Moses came to the
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