Sweet Jesus

 “And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’  And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.”  Exodus 15:22-27 

Sometimes when we cry out to the Lord, he doesn’t give us great words of insight.  Sometimes God just shows us a log, like He did for Moses.  Someone pointed out the other day that the word log in the verse above is the same word for “tree”. 

A tree can change everything…because it was on a tree our Savior Jesus died.  THAT tree, when thrown into our lives, makes everything sweet. 

Just this past week I was a chaperone on the senior class trip to Washington, D.C.  As we walked through the National Cathedral, I took in the beautiful stained glass, the intricately carved stone and wood, the statues and organ pipes…but what struck me the most was a small statue.
 

 

It’s supposed to represent Jesus as a young boy.  And, as you can see by the wearing of the metal, everyone touches His hands.  I'm sure they want to touch His hands for many reasons - maybe even because everyone else seems to. 

But it is funny that even in a building where they are trying to be so accepting of different faiths and systems of belief – where there are statues and pictures of many different things - that people really want to hold Jesus’ hands. 

His cross makes life sweet.

His hands comfort us.

His love fulfills us. 


He is true.


As A.W. Tozer said:  “All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to the end of the sweet things that might be said of Him.”

So may we, in our busy lives, not forget to remember that cross, those hands, and that love. 

When life seems full of bitterness and we cry out to God - sometimes He just shows us a tree. 

A tree that reminds us of someone altogether lovely.  Our sweet Jesus - whose love can make anything sweet.