The last post I wrote dealt with the murmuring of the children of Israel in the desert. I wrote about how God provided for the conversion of bitter water to sweet. The gist of the story was that a tree was cast into the water, and that the tree was symbolic of Christ’s suffering on the cross. I went on to say that we only need to add Christ to our everyday life to find that our “bitter waters” will be made sweet. It was only after a few days of writing this post that the LORD impressed upon me another perspective. He showed me a little view about what being cast into the bitter waters meant to the Christ of God. I would like to share this now.

As I was thinking about the tree, I was reminded of Psalm 1, where it speaks of a Man whose daily delight is in the Law of God. This Man is compared to a tree that is “planted by the rivers of water” that continuously brings fruit because of its root system being submerged in the river. There is a constant water source that provides for the perfect amount of sustenance. It is only natural that a tree placed under this condition will flourish.

It reminds me of a time that my family and I drove up Highway 16 from Helotes to Interstate 10. The road snakes along its way as it heads toward the interstate, and several times it approaches and crosses the Medina River (at least I think that’s the name). It was striking to me how obvious it was that we were approaching a river even when we were far away. From a distance, we could tell there was a river up ahead because of the presence of long rows of green foliage. It was summer, and particularly dry at the time, so the sight of anything green begged for attention. My mind immediately allowed a cross-reference to this passage in Psalm 1. The trees were constantly supplied with fresh water, and they displayed the influence outwardly. So it is with Christ.

He is the only One who ever found all His delight in His Father in Heaven. All through His life. He could be found “drinking” from the rivers of water. When, at the age of twelve, his parents were traveling and lost sight of Him, and they hurriedly returned to Jerusalem to find Jesus talking with the teachers of Israel about the things of God. His mind was always given over to these things. Even while He gasped for air in His death on the cross, He was thinking of God when He asked that His murderers be forgiven for their deeds. He was covertly a tree planted by the rivers of water.

So how does this mesh with the story in Exodus about the children and their complaints of thirst, and the lack of acceptable water? It seems pretty clear. The children in the desert were about three days without water. They were on the brink of death. So were we spiritually, before we knew the Lord Jesus. God tells Moses to cast a tree into the waters to make them sweet, and thus He rescues the children from death. We were also abiding at Death’s door because of our sin, when God provided a way for our deliverance. Our sin demanded that we pay, and the penalty of sin is death. So He pointed to a tree. The tree He pointed to was the tree that His Son occupied – the cross of Calvary.

To tie everything up nicely, we see that the Lord Jesus was a tree bringing constant fruit. We also notice that for Him to be cast into the bitter waters, he must have been uprooted – taken from His perfect condition, and thrust into a very painful one. He was, for eternity, sitting upon His throne in Heaven, the object of angels’ adoration. He was given the choice when presented with the impending doom that faced mankind: Stay on the throne, and let them die, or leave the throne, and bring them life. He chose to leave the throne to take our place in death. He became our substitute. He allowed Himself to be uprooted, and cast into the bitter waters of the cross. Now our waters are only sweet. What amazing love must have led Him there!

In closing, it astounds us to think upon His dying words. In the Gospel of John, shortly before His death, we hear the Lord utter an amazing statement, much related to the current context. This Man, who was the tree uprooted, and cast into the dark and bitter waters of the cross exclaimed, “I thirst”. How humbling it is to find that we caused this thirst. The One who only knew of the lush foliage that comes from a constant water source, chose to be thirsty that we might drink from the wells of salvation. Astounding and amazing love is in our presence!

From Salem’s gates advancing slow,

What object meets mine eyes

What means this majesty of woe?

What mean these mingled cries?

Is this the Man!

Can this be He the prophets have foretold?

Who with transgressors numbered be,

And for my crimes was sold

Ah, lovely sight, oh, heavenly form,

For sinful souls to see

I creep beside Him as a worm,

And see Him die for me.

As a family, we have recently been listening to about 5-7 chapters of the Bible each day. It has been a great blessing, as it stirs up the mind and spirit. One particular section of Exodus really caught my attention this week. It is as follows:

So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 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:…

Exodus 15:22-25

What a problem these people faced! The only water source found for about a million wandering Israelites was non-potable. Back up just a bit, and we find that they had been in the wilderness for three days, and had been unable to find water. So when they did stumble upon a source, it was bitter. Doesn’t that match an experience or two that each of us has had?

In every situation in life, things have a tendency to go bitter. Relationships can teeter under the weight of daily stress. Financial dealings may not size up as we hoped they might. Our health can quickly turn in a direction that we had not expected. A bitter circumstance may be just around the corner for a number of us.Yes, the glass is half empty.

Back to our problem in the desert. So the people are on the brink of dying of dehydration, and they begin to murmur against Moses, and basically God’s provision. “What shall we drink?” was the cry that they directed at Moses. Moses then turned to God as he usually did when he had no idea how to handle the murmurings. God’s answer for him? “Throw a tree into the water.” Huh? “You heard me correctly. Throw a tree into the water!”

So Moses obeys, and finds that the water is made sweet. “What kind of tree can turn bitter waters sweet?” is my question. Now this question could have a scientific slant to it if I wanted it to, but I think I’ll head down another path. Let’s focus on the deeper spiritual meaning usually associated with this scriptural account.

The tree here can refer us to a yet future tree. The tree of Calvary, where the sins of the whole world were laid upon Jesus Christ, God’s Son. There, Jesus Christ took the place of each one of us, and died for our sins, bearing the curse for us.

When we think of the bitterness of sin, and the grim consequence of eternity in Hell that results, it’s refreshing to know that there is an alternative. It’s a sweet end to a bitter beginning. Our lives are bitter. We cry out to God for help. He says, “Try the tree.” What a simple solution. Sometimes the simplicity turns us away. We think, “How can that help?” But many have put the solution to the test, and found it to be a valid one. In fact, I believe it to be the only valid one.

Or maybe we trusted Christ years ago, and we find ourselves in a bitter struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We only need to cast the tree in once again. Bring Christ into the waters of life, and things will once again be sweet. Only when we add Christ and His work on the cross can everything be made sweet. Adding Christ in our thoughts, meditations, prayers, etc. will prove to make whatever we face much more bearable. In many instances, we become like Peter who could walk on top of the stormy waters as long as he looked upon the only source of peace – Jesus Christ. Remember, when he looked at the circumstance, he faltered.

“…and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet…”

I have had some time today to read the first portion of the book of Jeremiah. I have read the first 7 chapters today, and a theme surfaces to me rather forcefully. It seems that the LORD communicates to the people of Israel that they have forgotten about HIM, and that they have put artificial gods in the place that is rightfully HIS. He tells of a coming judgement as retribution for their unchecked behavior.

We know from history that GOD held true to HIS promise, and that judgement did come.

I think too often in my life I have read something like this in Scripture and I have made that sound to myself that we make when we look at someone else and say, “It’s a pity they’ve done this to themselves. Why can’t they just listen to GOD, and do what HE says?”

The better and more appropriate reaction would be to confess to GOD that we are in the same place as those Israelites. That we have wandering hearts, too. How much easier things would be if I would just do this every day. If I would just take this Book as from HIS heart to mine, and agree with HIM on this issue – I have forgotten HIM, and confused my longing for HIM with a longing for “other things”.

We can say, “Those Israelites didn’t have a lick of sense! All they had to do was return to HIM!” But reality strikes our own heart down like a lightning bolt strikes a rotted tree. We are wanderers. I am a wanderer.

Daily I must return to HIM from the far country where I have retreated. The verse in Jeremiah 7:3 reminds me of what I must do:

Amend your ways and your doings…

Where Art Thou?

Genesis 3:9

The first question God ever asked of Man is now before our gaze. It is a question God asks of those who once knew the sweet fellowship with Himself. The woman was tricked into forfeiting the great privilege of walking in the cool of the day with the Creator, and Adam, with eyes wide open, chose sin for a season over the supreme prize of the universe.

It would do us well to let it ring long in our ears. It would do us well to let it “sink down” into our souls, for it is a question that God ever asks of us. “Where are you?” It should be understood that God longs to fellowship with us. It should be recognized that fellowship with us cost God the life of His Son. The whole message of the cross is this – “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” and “…this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.”
 
So we have the goal God sought after when He sent His Son to the cross – eternal life for us, and we have the definition of eternal life – that we might know Him and His Son – fellowship!
 
Let us heed this first question God asked of his creation. Let us understand it as a question asked of us. Here and now. It is a question for today. Where are you? Are you near to God? Then do as Jude says – “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Are you far from God? Turn around and come back. He has made every provision for your return.

This question is far-reaching. It can be said that every murder, every theft, even the tiniest disappointment has its roots in the Garden of Eden. The collapse of society began when the Man and Woman succumbed to deceit and unbelief, and relinquished the honor of walking with God. Creation has never recovered from this decision to sin. The Scripture says that creation “groans” for the remedy.

And the remedy is before us. The remedy is a Person. The remedy is Christ. Only He can repair the extensive damage done on that day in the Garden. Only He can set aright the misdirected course upon which we all travel.

God dispensed a curse when Man fell in sin. To the serpent, it was traveling on its belly, eating dust, and realizing enmity with the Seed of the woman. To the woman, it would be increased pain in childbirth. To the man, the ground, his only sustenance, would be cursed. Thorns and thistles would be his cash crop. Quite a grim look to the horizon was offered that day!

Yet God, who sees from one end of things to the other, could see beyond all this. His vision was set upon a single day in history yet future. His sights were upon a hill outside Jerusalem thousands of years away. On this hill the fix-all for the curse would be found. On this hill, His only Son would give His life. The sinless Son of God would take the place of the sinner and the rebel, and abolish the strong grasp that sin and death had around our throats. By dying, He would gain the victory.

How amazing to think that every element of the curse is dealt with at the cross of Calvary! The curse of the ground? “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head…” The curse of the pain of childbirth? God sent His Son to be “born of a woman”. What about the curse upon the serpent? “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;”

So thank the Lord today for his thorough dealing with the curse. Realize that the Lamb that was slain is worthy of all our affections!

There is none like Me
I carry the wounds of death
And behold, I live

Chased out of the world
Driven from light into dark
My punishment – His

Bleeding from the thorns
Gasping to live to cry out
Father, forgive them

And the wrens have returned and they’re nesting
In the hollow of that oak where his heart once had been
And he lifts up his arms in a blessing for being born again
And the streams are all swollen with winter – winter unfrozen,
and free to run away now…

Rich Mullins

Every once in a while, I think we need to do this. We need to lift up our arms in the presence of the LORD, and bless Him. He set his face like a flint (the Scripture says) and went to that awful hill. There He died. There I revived.

So there I was at 7:38 am. My eyes were still trying to fight their way open. My head was heavy with sinus congestion. My body and soul were yearning to get this Friday started for the purpose of bringing it to a swift end. Is it needful for me to say that I was tired?

I was waiting at the stoplight behind a few cars, and I had the opportunity to glance over and spot a grackle on the pavement between our line of cars. I normally am not very interested in grackles because I think they are ugly and that they are pests. They make a hideous, scratching sound that reminds me of feedback coming out of a PA system.

But what I saw awakened me to the importance of each moment, and drew my thoughts to a great promise in the Scriptures. It’s the one about the sparrows, and how the LORD feeds them, and how we are worth much more than a sparrow. The promise extrapolated to every day life abruptly assists us to recall that God firmly holds us, and that he is a God who actually cares about our needs. He watches us with deep concern, and wants to be everything to us. I suppose I should get to the punchline.

The grackle was eating out of a bag of unrecognizable food that had been dropped from a car and steamrolled by traffic. Not my idea of a nice meal, but I’m not a grackle. For this I am thankful. I am also thankful for this tiny nudge that the LORD gave me this morning. He spoke to me there in my sleepy little mode of “I’m tired and want this day to end”. He said, “I have you on my heart”. He said, “You are graven on my hands”.

Humor came from this when I spoke to Matt (a friend at work) about the grackle. He asked, “Did you see the possum that got hit by a car next to the grackle?” I can always count on Matt to make me laugh. I can also always count on the LORD to preserve and protect.