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God Changed the Bitter Water into Sweet Water

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Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. [Exodus 15:25]

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The Israelites, led by Moses, got out of Egypt,

and after experiencing the surprising miracle of the Red Sea;

finally, started the journey to Canaan.

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Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt, first reached a place called the Desert of Shur. The Israelites reached this place and for three days they walked to find water but they were unable to find water.

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The people traveled for water but they had a very hard time finding any. “Water, it is water.”

“What? It is water? Hurry, let’s go and see.”

The people who heard all ran toward that place.

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Very happily, the people began to sip the water.

But, the people stopped after realizing it to be too bitter to taste anymore.

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The people began to get angry.

“Oh! Where is this place, this person Moses is leading us?”

The people went to Moses and began to discriminate against him.

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“Oh, Moses what are you going to do with us?”

“Do you want to see us die of thirst?”

Moses’ heart was grieved after hearing the moaning cries of the people.

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Moses went to seek God and started to pray.

“God have pity on them. They forgot all the grace which You, Our God, have extended and now the people are blaming me. Please help me.”

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God listened to the prayer of Moses.

God spoke to Moses and said, “Moses, go to the tree, which I shall reveal to you, and break off a branch and throw it into the water.”

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Moses did as God had commanded him to do.

He went to the tree which God has told him, broke off the branch of it, and held it in his hand.

Then, he went to the place where the water was.

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Moses threw the branch in his hand into the water which tasted bitter.

Suddenly, an amazing thing happened when the branch fell into the water.

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“Oh! How can the water change so suddenly like this?”

After drinking the water, which had been changed to sweet,

the people praised God.

However, they only praised Him, because the water had been changed.

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The people who blamed Moses were embarrassed.

Through this happening, the Israelites were able to feel again the power of God. God showed the miracle of solving the problem of the water by a little tree branch.

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The Israelites complained to God about a little problem of not having enough water. They have done an action which threw away all the grace of leading them and making them walk across the Red Sea.

We should not do such a thing like the Israelites did, which is forgetting the grace of God even if there is a little discomfort in our lives

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We should have the behavior of faith like Moses when we encounter difficulties. Moses prayed to God about the difficult problem and let God solve the problem. And God showed the power of solving that difficult problem just by a little tree branch.

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And so, we should throw away the behavior which is similar to the Israelites which is the behavior of complaining whenever we encounter a difficult situation. Furthermore, we should work hard to become men of true faith, like Moses, who pray, believe in the power of God, and entrust all things to God when we encounter any kind of happenings.