Exodus 15:23-25

As we approach a New Year it is a fresh opportunity to make up our minds and hearts to move ahead without yesterday’s bitterness. Perhaps you have heard of the bird that flies backwards while singing, “I don’t know where I am going, but look where I have been.” It is time for that little bird to turn around.

What if we decided that we would raise the banner of our daily confidence and joy in the Lord? We meet plenty of people each day who have drunk from Marah’s bitter pool. We have also found the sweetening tree that makes bitter water fresh; and of all things, it is THE CROSS OF CHRIST.

Some of us have learned the hard way that if you keep stacking sorrow upon sorrow, you will find that proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. Jesus met each day with newness and determination that God’s glory would be the keynote of that day’s activities. “So, we do not lose heart…our inner self is being renewed day by day”

I have carried yesterday’s burdens and guilt when it was totally unnecessary. Do you remember that the women carried a heavy load of embalming materials to the empty tomb of Christ? If they had understood His words, they could have just gone to greet Him with joy. We too are on the victorious side of the cross. Even death’s waters cannot remain bitter; nor any other trouble, because the Lord has shown us the piece of wood that turns our bitter into sweet.

It is a new day today. May we learn each evening to empty our load; and every morning to say, “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”