See God {Day 30: Even the Bitter Becomes Sweet}

Sweet friends.  We have spent the last 29 days prying open our hearts, asking for fresh eyes to behold God.  We have seen how God hems us in.  We have seen how He creates us in His image, cherishes us as if we were an unborn fetus, and then sings over us.  God is our Stone, our Rain, and our Gate.  He loves intricate details including timing and seeds.  He loves us so much He is willing to wrestle with us so that He can change our very names. He pushes us out of our comfort zones so that we will inherit the land that is meant for us.

He simply is too much sometimes.  He leaves me undone.

My eyes are about to spill over with His goodness.

I hope you have beheld Him in a fresh and beautiful way this month.

Today, I want to tell you what is on my heart.  Hungry.  It is my word for the year.  I want Him so desperately.  I want to sit at His banqueting table and feast on who He is.  I am downright upset that I can't see Him face to face yet. 



Today, I want to tell you how to really see God. If we are hungry for His presence, then there is one verse that might help us with this.

Proverbs 27:7 says, "One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry, even what is bitter tastes sweet."

When we are starved for the real Jesus, we will joyfully welcome Him even if He comes alongside of hardship, trial, persecution, or tragedy. 

The unexpected and shocking death.

The miscarriage.

The cancer diagnosis.

The marriage dispute.

The financial upheaval.

The dream that was stomped upon.

The betrayal.

The sting when your heart is crying to be heard.

The loneliness.

The rebellious child.
The empty womb.

Jesus takes all bitterness and meets us in that place. He knows that this ugly pit we have been thrown into might be the very thing that allows us to behold Him in a fresh way.  If Jesus has our worship in the bitter times, then isn't it all the more sweet to Him to know that He has our whole hearts?

There is nothing like heartache to usher us straight into His affectionate arms.  The question is this:  will we allow our bitter circumstances to make us bitter or will we allow them to point us to knowing God in a fresh way? The choice is ours.

How are we to know He is Provision unless we have been stripped of everything else?  How are we to know He is peace unless chaos abounds?  How are we to know He is sufficient unless nothing else matters?  How are we to know He is good unless we are drowning in everything un-good? 

In the wilderness, at the bitter and undrinkable waters of Marah, Moses threw in a tree and the waters became sweet.

Jesus died on a tree so that He can meet us in our bitter places and reveal His sweet presence.

He is the one our hearts are really craving.

Not the baby.  Not the healing.  Not the restoration. 

What we need more than anything is His real presence.

We can choose to welcome the adversity because we know that through it, we are brought closer to His heartbeat.


We can finally breathe.  We can finally see.

To the hungry, even the bitter things taste sweet.

Perhaps praise God right now for your bitter circumstances and then humbly invite Him to reveal Himself in a precious way. Even in the bitterness, He is there.  He is Jehovah Shammah. He is right there.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  You are beyond valuable to Him. He wants to invite you into His heartbeat.  Lay against His chest and breathe Him in. His affection for you knows no bounds.