Sweet and Bitter Water

I have been pondering again.

The origins of my pondering start with James 3: 11
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

Now I know that this is talking about us speaking out of our mouths, but I was struck by another understanding from an entirely different perspective.

I began to think about the whole concept that everything in our lives is “Father Filtered” (thanks Brenda :D) and we cannot praise God for the good and then turn around and complain about the bitter, because from God’s perspective all of it either is good or can be used for our good, otherwise He would not allow it to happen. God does not deliberately allow harm or hurt on His children for no reason. He will allow the consequences of our own choices and He will sometimes allow the consequences of other’s choices to affect us, but always for growth or for teaching, or just to show His power, but never for our harm, always for good. For true Christians, everything that happens is allowed by the Father and therefore if not outright good, will be modified and used for our good if we accept it.

So, everything that life spills on us is always sweet, because it comes through the Father’s hands as a purifier. It is only our fleshly taste buds that perceive it to be bitter. The water from God never changes; it is only our perceptions of the water that changes because we “taste” it through the flesh of this world. If we could just somehow get a grasp on the truth that EVERYTHING is known by God. NOTHING takes Him by surprise. Nothing is an accident or coincidence, but everything we encounter has a purpose in God’s map of our lives and His Kingdom. If we could just get a grasp on the understanding that when life tastes so very bitter, it is still sweet. We just taste it with earthly taste buds.

If I could just get a grasp! :)