The Sweetening Tree

A Meditation

“Let others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah’s bitter pool, with joy will magnify the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in which thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and blessing the name of Jesus.”  From Spurgeon’s devotion of January 1st 2008 on e-Sword

As I read this devotional the Lord dropped the title of this meditation into my mind. It became a teaching for me and maybe it will for you also.

First, here is some scripture from the New King James Version of the Bible.

After the scripture, some thoughts.

Bitter Waters Made Sweet

“So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, ‘If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.’

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters” (Exodus 15:22-27 NKJV).

A Sweet Scene

Thoughts and Comments:

Moses brought Israelites up from the Red Sea and into the Wilderness of Shur. Tired and thirsty they searched the wilderness for three days without finding water until they came to the waters of Marah. But a single taste bore disappointment. Their search brought them only a pool filled with bitter water they could not drink.

Naming the place Marah, their complaints to Moses were as bitter as the water they’d found. “What shall we drink?” they asked him.

So Moses called out to God in prayer and God showed Moses a tree. I can just imagine Moses with a hand on his forehead in distress. A tree? How can a tree help get these people water fit to drink?

Nevertheless, breaking a branch from the tree, he threw it into the pool, and the water became sweet.

And then what did the Lord do but bless their socks off with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees where they could camp!

Praise be to our God and loving Father who cares so much for us, even when we at our most impatient and unloving levels!

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Take a moment to read and meditate on the additional scripture below,

paying special attention to the highlighted words.

Trees hold a high degree of importance in the garden of God's world.

We are entrusted with their care, and with the exception of

a single tree, we have been given the blessing of finding God's provision

 within them. And, one day, even that tree will not be beyond our reach.

Are there other verses the Lord has shown you that involve trees?

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Genesis 1:29 NIV).

And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9 NIV).

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" Genesis 2:16-17 NIV).

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7 NIV).

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2 NIV).