Disappointment and the bitter waters

THE TEN TRIALS – Trial 2 - THE BITTER WATERS
Exodus 15:22-25 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. 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. 24 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 the tree into the waters, the waters were made sweet 25…and there He tested them.
God wanted to reveal to Israel their reaction to disappointment, shown by their bitter complaining. It was after a three-day thirst (just about the limit). When God showed him the tree, it healed the waters.
This was a picture of Jesus, the Tree of Life, who heals our disappointment.

TWO TREES
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when desire comes, it is 'a tree of life’.
We become conditioned to living out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That ‘wrong tree’ leads to ‘wrong expectations’ of life and of God, and this leads to disappointment. Jesus shows us how to live out of the Tree of Life.

THE DEVIL’S OFFER OF THE WRONG TREE TO ADAM AND EVE - AND THE REST OF US
A. THE LIE
Genesis 3:1 The serpent was the most cunning of all the other creatures God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die. “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:14)
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

B – (If the devil were telling the truth)
‘Go on, you know that the moment God said you were not to eat the fruit from that tree, you knew you wanted to try it, so just eat it, have your own way. But you will find you’ll never be sure that God really wants the best for you. Go on, find out for yourself. This tree will drive you crazy. You will think you are wise and that you know everything but you will get anxious and reactive and disappointed with life rather than peaceful and proactive and satisfied. And you will become suspicious of what God is going to do next to make you pay for being so foolish and irrational. This tree will cause you all your problems yet you will think it gives you all your answers. You will become like me (haha). It’s scary, so learn to live with it because it’s all this world has to offer.’

Signed ‘Diabolos – (To throw something without knowing where it will land - missing the mark)’

P.S. Best of luck – you’ll need it!

So selling humanity the choice of the tree of knowledge was the first experience of our being robbed of hope because it caused us to move away from trusting God to trusting in self. This misplacing of trust and hope is the cause of all our misplaced expectations, and the cause of all our disappointment.

AVOIDING DISAPPOINTMENT
The Holy Spirit will activate the true behaviour of the ‘right tree’ self in us, as we spend more and more time with Jesus. That is why Jesus tells us to abide in the vine, so that we can bear his fruit.
Matthew 7:16 Can you pick grapes from a thorn bush, or figs from thistle tree? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.
Some natural trees are better trees to pick from than others. What we will have expectations of depends upon who and what we trust. There are some things that prove to be relatively better trees than others, but ultimately only the Tree of life can be fully trusted.

We can put our trust in a) self b) other people (from friends to someone you don’t know, on the internet maybe c) the odds of differing circumstances (from preferred choices to gambling)
d) God.

To put our trust in God we are also putting our trust in His right and good principles and we usually have to do something proactive in making a choice or a decision.

Exodus14:13 Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation (Jesua) of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today...The Lord will fight for you, and you shall have peace. And the Lord said to Moses Tell the children of Israel to go forward

REVERSING DISAPPOINTMENT - The remedy for a sick heart of disappointment
1. Proverbs 11:24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
Give what we’ve lost to God and hold on to our faith/hope in him.
2. Proverbs 17:22 A glad heart is its own remedy but a broken spirit depresses the soul