Exodus 15:23

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.

During the last few decades the news has been filled with stories about a pollutant called acid

rain. It's an increasing problem in the northeastern United States and Canada. Acid rain is the

result of sulfur and nitrogen oxides being washed from the air by normal rainfall. These

pollutants are killing whole forests and destroying fish and other aquatic life in numerous lakes.

The people of Israel encountered a similar situation at an oasis they called Marah, which means

"bitter." Something had so polluted the water that it was undrinkable. The people of God were in

danger of dying of thirst. But when we need God most, He is always there. Jehovah directed

Moses to a tree that miraculously restored the pureness of the water when cast into it (v. 25).

Bitter water also can destroy our spiritual lives. James asks, "Does a spring send forth fresh

water and bitter from the same opening?" (James 3:11). The sweet spirit God wants for us cannot

exist in a heart polluted by bitterness. Bitterness on the inside will eventually manifest itself on

the outside.

No matter how carefully we think we have concealed it, bitterness will contaminate all we are,

all we say, and all we do. The only solution is to apply the healing balm of God's Spirit to the

bitterness of our lives.

If you are being polluted by bitterness, isn't it time for God's freshness? Confess that your

bitterness is a sin that is keeping you miserably distant from God. Ask for His forgiveness and

begin to enjoy a renewed sweetness.

A BITTER SPIRIT WILL KEEP YOU FROM BEING A BETTER PERSON.

WOODROW KROLL

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