Bitter Lemons
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27NKJV)
You may have heard it said, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” meaning turn the bitter, sour, negative circumstances into something positive. Some people will refer to this kind of thought process as, “The power of positive thinking,” However, I would like to offer you what Jesus says, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
No amount of ‘power of positive thinking’ will take away or change what only the power of Christ Jesus can do through the Holy Spirit.
I heard someone say, “If life gives you lemons, you don’t have to suck on them.” Meaning, we have a choice. We can let the negative circumstances we experience in life seep into our inner being and make us bitter, or we can give them to someone who has the power to turn them into something good. That someone is Jesus.
“And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God…” (Romans 8:28)
If we love God, we can be sure that every detail in our lives God will work it into something good for us and to bring Him glory.
However, we so often try with our own strength, to turn our ‘lemons’ into lemonade. We strive, in our own strength, in our own understanding.
We go to work, working hard to cut-up all the lemons, get the seeds out, squeeze all the juice from the fruits, maybe try and strive to get all the pieces of pulp out, figure out how much sugar we need to add, taste test multiple times to see if we got it just right, strive, strive, strive, to see if it is any good.
However, in all our striving, we will always come up short.
There is a better way, we don’t have to strive with the ‘lemons,’ we can do as the Psalmist says:
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trust in Him!” (Psalms 34:8 NKJV.)
We can go to the Maker of Heaven and Earth, give Him our ‘lemons,’ and trust that He will make something could from them.
When he go to God with all our anxious negative thoughts, all our anger, all our hurts and heartaches, all our worries and temptations, (by the way, He already knows everything you are experiencing, nothing is hidden from Him, so be honest with Him, You can trust Him)... Jesus, the son of God, is able to empathize/sympathize with all our weaknesses. He understands and has compassion for us. We can come to Him with confidence that He hears us and will give us mercy and we will find grace in our time of trouble. You can trust Him with the ‘lemons’ that life gives you!
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy. And find grace to help us in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16CSB).
“When life gives you lemons, you don’t have to suck on them,” Bring them to the LORD, go to Him. By the power of the Holy Spirit, He can take your “lemons” and use them for your good, He can turn any negative circumstance into something good and beautiful. He can do more than you can imagine. “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37 NKJV).
“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 NKJV)
Until next time…Let us go to God with all our ‘lemons’ and let Him turn them into something good.
Shalom 😊
