Bitter into Sweet

I'm in a Bible study that meets on Wednesday mornings.  This year, we are studying the Life of Moses.  At first I wasn't too thrilled with this topic, seeing that the study lasts 32 weeks.  But I have been amazed at how much God is teaching me through a man that was born almost 3500 years ago.  This week, our study had the neatest application.  

After 430 years of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites have just escaped and crossed through the Red Sea.  They celebrate God's miracles and praise Him with song and dance.  But just three days after these events, they have already forgotten God's amazing provision and deliverance!  As they begin their journey through the desert, the drinking water they find is bitter and the grumbling and complaining begins (only forty years to go!)  And then . . . God works the most perfect miracle.  He took the bitter water and turned it in to something sweet - a water so sweet that two million people and their animals could have their fill!

Isn't that just like God?  He can take the most bitter of circumstances and transform them to something beautiful and sweet.  Of course this story reminded me our our miscarriage last March.  We had every reason to feel bitter and angry.  But instead, He worked a miracle in our hearts and lives.  He turned the bitter into sweet!

Right after working this miracle, God tells the Israelites that He is Jehovah-Ropheka, "I am the LORD who heals you."  What a gift of grace that we have a God who heals us!  He restores beauty for ashes, gladness for mourning, and praise for despair.  Jeremy and I have experienced this healing in our hearts, and we are so thankful for His gracious care of us.  He has led us through green pastures and beside quiet waters.  Not because we deserve it, but because that's who He is - Jehovah-Ropheka! It's not always easy to be joyful in difficult circumstances, but His track record of faithfulness is 100%.  It's pretty hard for me to doubt when I remember that!