Bitterness-
As the tree reaches toward the sky, so does the broken heart reach for thee.
As the water brook runs and twists through the woods so does my heart run and twist toward thee.
“O, Lord, my heart yearns for healing, but it doesn’t come,” says the one whose heart has been broken and bitterness has grown and made the one miserable.
“My heart yearns to trust in thee,” says the one who has been ripped apart.
“My heart wants to feel normal again,” says the heart that has been broken.
“Is there any hope; is there any comfort?” “Nay,” says the wicked one. “Nay,” says the world.
The world says that there is no hope for you: there is no peace for you, but that is a lie straight from the pit of Hell. There is hope for you, and there is peace. You do not have to let this bitterness destroy you. You can have joy in your life again. See, the Devil wants to keep every Christian discouraged. Similarly, we allow the bad things that happen in our life to cause extreme cases of bitterness resulting in destruction to every single, good relationship that we have. Bitterness takes something bad that has happened to you and uses it to cause every good thing to become unenjoyably bad.
What causes bitterness?
1. Things that happen in our life! Job 10:1-
“My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.”
Do not think that I am criticizing Job for his bitterness, because I am not. I know that he had just lost everything that was precious to him. Like Job, many people today have had bad things that have happened in their life to cause bitterness. There are some people who have had extremely bad things happen to them, and I do not necessarily blame them for their bitterness. Consequently, bitterness does not seclude itself to one area of your life; in like manner, it will seek to control every aspect of your life. I have seen parents lose a child, and what a horrible trial that is to face! Because of this trial, the parent grows bitter and mad at God allowing the bitterness to rise up in their life. This eventually results in destruction to the relationships that they have with their other children.
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, many people lost everything. Some people grew bitter and angry with God and never overcame this tragedy in their life. I have many more examples of bitterness that I could share. Even though these examples I shared are extremely hurtful, I could share many more cases of bitterness that I have seen personally.
The most important thing to remember is that the Devil does not care what it takes to make you bitter. As long as the result has concluded with bitterness, the Devil succeeded. The reason we become bitter is because we do not trust God like we should when these evil times do come in our life. At the same time we think we know what is best for us. In reality, we neither know more than God nor do we know what is best for us as He does.
I do not want to leave the story of Job without sharing the good news of how Job repented of his bitterness and turned back to God according to Job 42. God then restores Job of everything he lost and gave him a double blessing. When bad things happen in your life go to God. Pray, be still, get to know Him, and put your trust in Him totally. Proverbs 3:5-6,
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
We need to simply trust the Lord. Remember He is in control, and knows what is best for us totally. Romans 8:28,
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
I know that many of us have heard this verse many times. Nevertheless, we must understand that this verse is not saying that everything is good; however, it is saying that everything will work together for my good. So the question is, do you trust God? We find many who are bitter and are not at peace with the situations that have come into their lives. With that being said, we must realize that God knew all along what would happen in our life, but also allowed it to happen. When you look at Naomi from the book of Ruth in the Bible, we see all the horrible things that had happened to her. She allowed her circumstances to make her bitter. Ruth 1:20 says,
“And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”
2. What other people do to us or say about us!
People are going to be people, and they will say hurtful things to us and about us. We need to be careful that we are not the ones who are hurting others or causing bitterness in other people. I devoted a whole blog post to this topic about the tongue, and the importance of being careful of what we say.
When Potiphar’s wife lied about Joseph, he did not get bitter or mad but kept on doing what he knew was right. By continuing to do right, Joseph rose in leadership and God was able to use him in a mighty way. Another example from the Bible is from Daniel. When Daniel was put in a bad situation by the other rulers of the land who were very jealous of him, he did not get bitter or mad but continued doing what he was supposed to do. Because Daniel did not get bitter over his harsh circumstances, he triumphed and was in good standings with the king; therefore God continued to use Daniel in a mighty way as God also did with Joseph.
Dan
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