Place the Cross in the Midst of Your Bitter Moments, and Jesus Makes Them Sweet

I have learned so much about God's love for me. I am starting to realize more and more that His love for me was always strong and available.

We can take our Daddy God's Finished work and place it within the most bitter moments in our lives.

I remember before graduating from high school, how I had endured intense pain and hurt in my life. I was lonely and lost. I also struggled with intense shame because of what my mother had done to me when I was younger.

An intense of fear and shame had overwhelmed me. I could not understand why, and what was going on in my life at the time. The sense of hurt, the impending sense of fear and loss, that I was doing something wrong, and that I would miss out on a strong friendship or an opportunity had so engulfed me.

I look at who Jesus is today, and I see that He is a magnificent Savior NOW, but He had loved me since the beginning!

So, where do we find the type that speaks of Jesus' Finished work, and how we can derive peace and hope and draw peace and sweetness from the hurts in our lives?

Check out the waters of Marah:

22So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 23And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them.

Notice that the LORD showed Moses a tree. Moses did not have to find the tree on his own, and he did not have to grow the tree himself. God our loving Father provided what was needed.

This tree is a picture of the Cross, our beloved Savior Jesus dying on the tree, taking away the curse of the law against us (Galatians 3:13), becoming sin, that we may become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

We can take the Cross, the Finished Work of Jesus Christ, and place what He accomplished in the midst of our worst days, our hardest moments, the most painful times in our lives.

I realize now that God my Daddy was not abandoning me during those rough times. He had always been there, and He was ready to assist, if I would have only allowed him to. Yet even today, I know that God can reach into our past and bring forth blessings and wonders for our present and the future!

Consider the account of Tamar, who deceived her father-in-law Judah in order to have a child (Genesis 38). In spite of the great wickedness of deception, prostitution, and incest which ensued, God blessed Tamar and the two boys born to her (Genesis 38: 27-30).

The blessings are manifold which ensued:

1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 

Judah and Tamar were ancestors of the Great Kings David and Solomon, but most importantly the King of Kings, Jesus!

What else have I learned from placing Jesus into the midst of terrifying times and bad memories?

I realized that there was nothing stopping God's blessings in my life. He was actively loving me, and His life flowing through me had nothing to do with how I was feeling or what I was thinking. I never had to fear or feel condemnation for what I was thinking or feeling.

I would fear losing friendships or losing relationships with individuals. I worried about the loss or the lack that might ensue. Then I realized that because My Daddy loves me, and His Son died for me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20-21), that I had nothing to lose, even if I lost something or someone.

I realize now that He is in the business of blessing me with everything I need and what I want, that I prosper within and without (3 John 2).

This other lie persisted in my mind, too, that I had a limited time to have or not have something. That I needed to rush and ensure time and energy with certain people, or it would be "too late." What I see now is that I did not feel loved, I did not realize how loved I was.

All of that is changing, now, and because I realize how much He loves me (that's right--ME!)

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Notice that Paul repeats "me" twice. There is nothing with appreciating, magnifying God's love for you!

That was Paul's chief prayer for fellow believers:

14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ ... (Ephesians 3: 14, 17-19)

This was a major issue for Paul, that we would understand how much Christ Jesus loves us.

When we understand how vast, how expansive God's love is for us, we can then see His love at work, even in our darkest moments, during those times when we thought we were alone or lost, or that God did not care.