From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: When you hit the bitter waters of life, this is what can happen easily to you and to me. We hit the bitter waters, but the longer that we grumble and gripe and complain and despair, the bitter waters come inside of us. We become a pool of bitterness because somebody hurt us or because somebody lied about us.

We get bitter at a teacher for messing us over, or so we think. We get bitter at a coach because he didn't play us. We get bitter at an employer because they fired us. We get bitter at this person and that person and the other person. It might be legit; that person really messed you over. But if the bitterness comes inside, then you become bitter and you need God to heal you.

Larry Nobles: Of course, you already know that bitter things are part of life, and many times they come on the heels of great victory. But God can use the bitter times and turn them into sweet times, even when you think that's impossible. You'll discover how in this encouraging message from From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve.

Today's lesson is entitled "Bitter Sweet," and it's one of five in Pastor Jeff's series, "Got Trouble? What to do when you don't know what to do." If you've missed any of these messages we've aired so far, we invite you to go to fromhisheart.org and click the listen link. Now, open your Bible to Exodus chapter 15 and verse 22. Here's Pastor Jeff to help us process the bitter sweet in our lives.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Today we're going to look at a really important passage of Scripture. I think it's one that we can all relate to. It has to do with the bitter things in life. Exodus chapter 15, I'll begin reading in verse 22. It says, "Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea," the Red Sea where they had the great victory, where God parted the waters and drowned Pharaoh and his armies.

He led Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. Anytime you read in the Old Testament about the wilderness, replace that with the word desert. Don't think of a forest. This isn't like Little Red Riding Hood. This is desert. So they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, it was named Marah, which means bitterness. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" In this passage of Scripture, it's very interesting that this is in Exodus chapter 15. Exodus 15 is the big celebration chapter. It's where they sing and it's where they dance. I mean, it's off-the-charts elation.

They had just seen God perform the greatest Old Testament miracle, parting the Red Sea and destroying Pharaoh and his armies. In the same chapter, you have this story about bitter waters. Here's our question for today: what does God want us to learn from this Marah story, from this bitter waters story? I think there are three insights that the Lord put on my heart that He wants to speak to your heart.

While you might say, "I have trouble in my life, but it's nothing compared to Job," everyone can relate to this situation that the Israelites found themselves in at the waters called Marah. Insight number one: bitter things are part of life. They're just part of the human existence. Bitter things are unavoidable.

As much as we don't like bitter things in life, the waters that they faced—the literal waters—we'll use that as a picture of things that come into our lives that we don't like. We say, "Oh man, this is awful. This is a problem for me. This is a hardship. I don't like this, Lord." Bitter things are unavoidable.

Think about who was leading the group. It was about two million people, give or take, that came out of Egypt. This was a massive group with flocks and herds, little ones, babies, and older people. Who was leading the group? You might say, "I got that one. It's Moses. Moses is the leader." True, Moses is the human leader, but God was leading the group.

There's a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God led them so that they could see exactly where they were to go. When they left that joyous campsite on the other side of the Red Sea, they went three days, approximately 45 miles, to this place known as Ain Hawarah. If you do a search on Ain Hawarah, A-I-N H-A-W-A-R-A-H, you'll find that this is a real place.

In that place, there are bitter waters. They're bitter because they're salty, brackish, nasty waters. They're unpleasant and you can't drink them. It's kind of like the old poem, "Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink." You can't drink that water. They come to this place, but God led them there. Difficult, bitter times are unavoidable in life.

Jesus said, "In the world you have tribulation," the Greek word thlipsis, which means troubles, trials, distresses, and frustrations. "But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." Jesus told us that you're going to have trouble. One of God's favorite songs is that song from the '70s, "I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden."

That is what God tells us, because we get freaked out when we hit Marah in life. We say, "What's up with this, Lord? This just stinks. Who signed me up for this?" God says, "I didn't tell you this was going to be easy, smooth sailing." Sometimes people think that if they become a Christian, that will be the end of their problems. It's just a different kind of end.

You are going to have problems because the Christian life is filled with them. Paul said through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God, through many thlipsises, pressures, and difficulties. Oftentimes, for those who walk with God, your problems get harder in one sense when you become a Christian because now you have the world and the devil going against you.

You feel the pressure of the world, the flesh, and the devil that you didn't feel before. Bitter things in life are unavoidable and they often come on the heels of great victory. It's kind of wild, but they do. Let me set this up for you to see how strange it is that this story is in chapter 15.

At the end of chapter 14, when God parted the Red Sea, they all thought they were going to die. We would have thought we were going to die too because they're at this place called Pi-hahiroth, which is between a rock and a hard place. Pharaoh is behind them with blood in his eye, ready to kill them. The sea is in front of them with nowhere to go.

They yell at Moses and blame him, asking, "Were there no graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die?" Moses cries out to God, and God says, "Why are you crying out to Me? Go forward." Go forward into what? Into the sea? God tells Moses to stretch out his staff and He will part the waters.

God dried out the ground so the two million people could walk across it. When Pharaoh comes after them, the Lord causes the sea to go back together and they're wiped out. The Scripture says at the end of chapter 14 that when Israel saw the great power the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

Then they begin to sing, "I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea." Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, gets a tambourine and begins to dance. They're all just praising God because He is mighty and powerful. The parting of the Red Sea was the greatest Old Testament miracle. Everyone talked about it.

When they came into the Promised Land, as you read in the book of Joshua, people didn't understand why they waited to come in. They had heard about their God and how He parted the sea. Everyone wondered who could stand up against this God. It was big news throughout the Old Testament, and God reminds them of it many times.

On the heels of that comes this Marah experience. It was three days, 72 hours, from the mountaintop to the Marah valley. Have you noticed how life can be like that? It's weird how things happen when you have this huge mountaintop experience and then in no time, you run into Marah. That's what happened when they took the Promised Land.

They had the battle of Jericho where the walls came down. Great victory. On the heels of Jericho was Ai, piddly little Ai. They didn't even send very many soldiers because Ai was like the seventh-grade B team. They thought they could whip those guys with one hand tied behind their back, but they got whipped at Ai.

Joshua doesn't know what's wrong, and the Lord says there is sin in the camp. That is why He didn't bless them and why they got whipped. You also have the example with Elijah on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings chapter 18. He goes up against the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah. God brings about a great victory, and Elijah thinks that's going to usher in revival.

In the very next chapter, he's praying to die. It's been like a day from the mountaintop. It didn't even take him three days. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowd cheered and threw down their garments. They said, "Hail him," and then in a few days, they said, "Nail him." It is weird how you can go from the mountaintop to the Marahs just like that.

The Scripture says, "Be sober, be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." When you're on that mountaintop and everything's going so good, the devil wants to steal the joy. If you're not sober and alert, you can get blindsided. The Lord says to be ready for that because the Marahs often come on the heels of great victory.

Larry Nobles: You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve and the message today, "Bitter Sweet." He'll return in just a moment to continue the second insight into these bitter times that come in our lives. Stay with us. Have you ever noticed how hard life can be? Bitterness is something we all face, either at work, home, or in our spiritual lives.

A lot of people become bitter because they don't have enough money to do what they want to do. It surely is a bone of contention in many marriages. Is that a bitter sweet battle for you? 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 9 and 10 tells us, "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."

If that describes you, we want to help you to get over the craving for money and have more peace in your life. Pastor Jeff has a new three-message series called "God and Money: What the Bible Says About Managing Money." It will help you recalibrate your lifestyle, your desires, and your heart.

This new series is our gift to you to say thank you for your support of any amount to From His Heart this month. To get yours, call 866-40-BIBLE or go online to fromhisheart.org and request the series "God and Money." You can get it in the format of your choice. Now, let's get back to part one of the message from Pastor Jeff's "Got Trouble" series called "Bitter Sweet."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Second insight: bitter things are not only part of life, but they are used by God. God led them there; He was in control. We read in this story that seven miles to the south of this place where the bitter waters were, there's a place called Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 date palms. Why didn't God just bypass the bitter waters and go straight to Elim?

No, God led them to Marah. Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 2 says, "And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." The Lord led them to Marah to humble them.

God uses the bitter things in life to humble us. I have a confession to make. I have a problem with pride. So do you. We all do. That's the big issue in life. What's the middle letter of the word pride? I. We have trouble thinking that we can handle things, thinking that we're really something. Here's the thing for Israel: they knew in Exodus 14 that if God didn't come through, they were sunk.

Pharaoh was behind them and he was ready to wipe them out. They couldn't do anything against him, so they all cried out to the Lord. It wasn't really a faith call; it was just a foxhole prayer because they didn't have anything else to do. They knew they needed God against Pharaoh. But now Pharaoh's dead.

It's easy to think, "We got this, God. You brought us through, so we're good." God is showing them that they aren't good and that they need Him every hour, every minute, and every second. The Lord takes us to the bitter waters to show us that we should not trust in ourselves. Don't get proud and think that you can do it on your own.

Depend upon Him. As the psalmist said, "The nearness of God is my good." God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Philippians 4:13 is a favorite verse of so many people. It says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I can't do it through me. I don't have strength because apart from Him, we can do nothing.

We need to remind ourselves of that all the time. God is teaching them that they need Him. Don't get the idea that just because Pharaoh's gone that you don't need Me for the little things in life. God uses those things to humble us and to test us. He wanted to see what was in their heart.

Think about this story. You go through the Red Sea and you're just blown away by the awesome power of God. Egypt was the mightiest nation at that time, and God squashed them like a bug. He turned Pharaoh into fish food. You go through that and everything is awesome. Then you travel for three days to get to this place called Marah.

You're thirsty and the water you brought is out. You have flocks and herds that need to drink. You see water up ahead and think you're saved, but when you dip in, it's bitter and full of salt. It would be just like the devil to come alongside those people when they find out it's undrinkable water and say, "See? That's God for you. God is so cruel."

He makes it seem like God is a cruel jokester who likes to dangle the carrot and then pull it away. He gets your hopes up and then dashes them. That's what the devil said to Eve: "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from every tree of the garden'?" He tries to make you think negatively about God. Some of you see God as a cosmic teaser.

He was doing that to test them. He wanted to see what was in their heart. Remember that God is not the cosmic tease; God is the God who puts on a squeeze. I have a tube of toothpaste from my bathroom. If you want to know what is in this tube, the way you know is you squeeze it and it comes out. That is how the Lord tests us. He puts the squeeze on us through difficult times and bitter waters to reveal what's in our hearts.

Larry Nobles: The Heavenly Father never lays anything on His children that we're not able to bear up under. We hope you're being encouraged by this insightful lesson today called "Bitter Sweet." It's one of five in the series "Got Trouble? What to do when you don't know what to do."

Other messages include "The Principle of Perspective," "It's Not That Complicated," "Can It Get Any Worse?", and "How to Get Up When You're Down." To get your copy of this series, call 866-40-BIBLE or go to fromhisheart.org. When you are online, we hope that you're able to leave a prayer request there.

You also have the option to receive an email alert anytime someone prays for you. You can also help us pray for the hundreds of requests we get each week by clicking the prayer link on our homepage. Thank you for joining us. I'm Larry Nobles, and we trust that you'll be back here next time for part two of the message from Pastor Jeff called "Bitter Sweet." Here's a touch of what's to come.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: I don't know what your Marah is, but God does. He can take the Marahs and turn them to sweetness if you'll factor in the cross. In everything in life, factor in the cross. What to do when you don't know what to do? Factor in the cross, because the cross changes everything.

Larry Nobles: Join us on Thursday when Pastor Jeff Schreve will open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from God's heart here on From His Heart.