The bitter waters of Marah must be tasted when the salt waters of the Red Sea have delivered us from Egypt for ever and ever. Put the wood of the tree, the cross of Christ, into our cross, and all will be sweet. "Crucified" is terrible work - crucified with Christ, joy and deliverance; reproach is cruel, the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
If we walk through the world with Christ's love filling the heart, there is not a single thing but what will awaken sorrow - the sorrow not of irritability but of love. Christ did ever the work of love, but with what a sense of the way in which death had come in! He was always sorrowing because He was all love.
The word of God can only cut away what is hindering my growth.
I see the failure of the best things around, and unless one is with God, and knowing the source of every good thing, the heart gets depressed, and says, "Who will show us any good?" But God remains just the same, and I know where to look - where only good can be found - in Him.
The practical relief to your soul is always the extent of your confession.