tions of time, what a host bear witness to this blessed transformation! And still that blood avails “ as fresh as ever.” People plunged into the depths of despair may be raised to the heights of hope. What a sorry group, indeed, were the disciples of our Lord, as they hid themselves away behind locked doors in despair and fear after the crucifixion. The bottom had fallen out of their world. Their high hopes and joyous an ticipations had come crashing down. But hear Peter tell how the bitter be came sweet: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorrupti ble, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1: 3, 4). Look now at the setting of the two phrases upon which these thoughts are based: “the waters were bitter” and “the waters were made sweet.” We find them in Exodus 15—a chapter which describes the children of Israel as they passed through alternate feelings of bitterness and sweetness according to their outward circumstances. The chap ter opens with singing. Songs of praise and triumph rise from the lips of the people prompted by the display of God’s majesty and power in delivering them from the whips, the sweat and the toil of their Egyptian taskmasters. Then on they go toward the Promised Land. But after three days—what a contrast! Shortage of water. All that could be fotmd to drink was bitter—and the peo ple’s rejoicing hearts turned bitter. But in the midst of bitterness God showed Moses a tree. He took it; plunged it into the bitter waters—and “ the wa ters were made sweet.” As the people drank, their hearts also were made sweet. At the close of the chapter we find them happily encamping by wells of water and among shady palms. How subject to circumstances we so often are! But let us think of that tree which made the bitter sweet. Those Marah waters bespeak life’s bitter experiences, its sufferings, heartaches, disappoint ments, defeats, its sorrows and despair —and they cover our world today. But what is that tree which can work such transformation and make the bitter sweet? Is it not God’s Word? “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psa. 119:103). When a blow falls upon our life bring ing suffering—wherein lies the bitter ness of it? It is not supremely, and often not principally, in physical pain, so much as in mental anguish and heart distress. When calamity comes how often it is accompanied by questions. Why is this? How have I come to this? What have I done to deserve this? Some seek relief in suicide. But that is no relief—for “ after death the judg ment.” Others give way to fatalism. “ It is just my bad luck. I was born Page Thirteen
T HE BIBLE looks at life steadily and sees it whole. It takes in the whole range of human experience —the bitter and the sweet. Here are to be found the most pro found questions ever to exercise the mind of man and trouble his heart. Here are expressed the greatest sighs of human bitterness and the most glori ous songs of human exultation. Here are recorded the grievous sins which blight human life and the pure graces which beautify it. We see man in the depths of despair; and man on the mountain peaks of hope. The bitter, and the sweet. But the Bible not only records the bitter and the sweet------ it proclaims and illustrates the fact that the bitter may be made sweet. The sighs of human agony can be *Missionary of the European Chris tian Mission laboring in Paris, France. A U G U S T , 1 9 5 1
changed into songs of joy. Such was the case, for example, of Paul and Silas, who had suffered severely at the hands of the magistrates and people of Philippi. Their backs bleeding and smarting from their whipping; roughly thrust into the innermost recesses of the Roman jail; their feet made fast in the stocks, never theless, “ at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” The bitter was made sweet. The heart deep-dyed in sin may be made as white as snow. “ Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18). “ The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). From north and south and east and west—from mani fold tribes and nations, differing in color and in tongue throughout genera
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