Word for Today, Thu, 9 Dec 2004: The Better Beyond the Bitter
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Today's devotional message comes from the series entitled "A Word
With You" by Ron Hutchcraft. The first time I saw it a number of
years ago, I really liked it, but I had some publishing concerns
because he used to call his series "Word for Today", just as I
do. Mine isn't copyrighted, but publishing both messages by the
same name can sometimes be confusing. Nevertheless, I've often
read Ron's commentaries.
I hadn't seen Ron's writing in a while, but I've heard him on the
radio several times in recent weeks (on the Moody Broadcasting
Network, MBN). Today I happened to come across a link to his
materials on the gospelcom.net Web site, a location I often use
for my own resources and study.
I thought that this message would be useful to many of us (it
certainly is for me) so I decided to share it with you as today's
"Word for Today", recalling Ron's fondness for the same phrase...
Yours in Christ,
Brian
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Harvest Daily Devotional
The Better Beyond the Bitter
Transcript #4674 | Psalms 30:5
You know something's up when a friend offers you a piece of
candy and then stands there to watch you eat it. It happened
in our office when my administrative assistant offered me a
piece of sour apple candy with the interesting name
"Warheads." That should have been my second clue, besides her
standing there and watching me. The third clue should have
been the drawing on the wrapper. It's this cartoon guy with
his head sort of blowing up. Well, being the good sport that
I am, I went for it. The first minute was awful! Bitter
doesn't describe the taste. It was just bad bitter! It made
my mouth pucker and it even made my eyes water! And then, as
suddenly as that sharp bitter taste had invaded my mouth, the
taste changed to a really enjoyable, sweet fruit
taste. Which, I am happy to report, lasted considerably
longer than the bad taste.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today
about "The Better Beyond the Bitter."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalms
30:5. It's short but it says a lot. "Weeping may remain for a
night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." God says there
will be bitter times, and you may be going through or heading
into one of those bitter times right now. A lot of times
those bitter seasons hit as suddenly as the bitter taste of
that crazy candy, and you're just not prepared for it and it
just plain hurts.
God's wonderful promise here is not that the bitter won't
come, but that it won't last. It won't be the final
outcome. It won't be the last chapter. No, for those who
belong to Jesus Christ, "rejoicing comes in the morning."
What did I have to do to enjoy the sweet taste of that candy?
The same thing you'll have to do to get the rejoicing He has
for you on the other side. You have to get through the
bitter. But you can, if you know it isn't always going to
taste like this.
I don't know what burden you're bearing right now. It could
be the pain of losing someone you love, maybe a serious
medical problem, or a hurting marriage, or you're a hurting
parent or a hurting child. Maybe the "weeping" season is
because of finances, or a broken dream, or a long emotional
valley. But notice the three redeeming words after "weeping
may remain," it says, "for a night." This night, even this
long night, will not last forever. And on the other side a
time of joy that is hard for you to imagine right now but
which God guarantees. In fact, the beautiful time may
actually be produced by the bitter time; as the joy of a new
baby is produced by a painful delivery process.
But you do have to get through this bitter taste without
abandoning your Lord or His plans. A great saint of another
generation, Dr. V. Raymond Edman, had a perspective on the
hard times that can help you get through it. He said that in
any situation, a child of God can be sure of these four
hope-givers: "I am here by God's appointment; in His keeping;
under His training; for His time." And then he adds, "In any
kind of trial, always look for the blessing." Remember, you
have God's word that you will not be tested beyond what you
can bear.
You may really dislike the taste of what you're going through
right now, and that's understandable, but don't think that it
will always taste like this. The sweet time that God has for
those who endure is waiting for you on the other side of this
bitter time. And like a certain candy that began very
distasteful, the sweet time will last a lot longer than the
bitter time.
2004 Ron Hutchcraft. Permission to distribute this material
via email, or individual copies, is automatically granted on
the condition it will be used for non-commercial purposes and
will not be sold. To reproduce "A Word With You" transcripts
in any other format, including Internet websites, written
permission is needed from Ron Hutchcraft.
Copied from the Web site
http://www.gospelcom.net/rhm/awwy/view.php?id=4674
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Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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