In His Word 3-26-12
Who do you trust with your life?
I am reading through 2nd Samuel this week in my Daily Word Bible and am finding that David really trusted God. He knew that even when he totally messed up morally or physically he could still repent, ask God forgiveness and know that God would still be His God.
David went through many trials, but one that was dear to his heart was the one that included his son Absalom. He, Absalom, murdered his family member, then came back and repented yet kept in his heart resentment towards his father David for the anger he had toward him for killing his other son. In Absalom’s heart he believed it was a just murder and I know David knew this too, but Absalom still was upset and allowed a root of bitterness to form in his heart. He began devising a plan to take over the kingdom from his father. In the end he was the one who ended up worse for the wear because he had allowed the bitterness to grow.
So what can we do about bitterness so that we will not become an Absalom?
Bitterness can cause you to do what you would not normally do. We are not to harbor it, or keep it in our hearts but instead we are to forgive one another. We are to speak the truth in love and then forgive the other person who has harmed us or caused us to become bitter and distressed. We are not to hold on to the pain and relish it that is for certain! I know of people who enjoy their injuries of the heart way too much. They cry out to God to help them but hold on to the problem which turns into a root of bitterness.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:30-32
Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Hebrews 12:14-16
Bitterness is having a harsh or disagreeably acrid taste, like that of aspirin I your mouth. In your heart it is distressful, sorrowful and grievous. It is something hard to bear with. It can cause a person physical pain, or emotional pain. It comes out in antagonism and hostility. In other-words, bitterness is bad news.
We generally pick up the seed that ends up rooted when we take offence over something someone may have or may not have done to us. We perceive this as an injury and allow the injury to fester instead of asking God to heal it and asking the person to forgive us or deciding to forgive them. Forgiving someone is a directive from God, we are told to forgive others in the Word many times; “forgive us our trespasses that we may forgive those who trespass against us.” Instead we talk about it with everyone; we work our selves up to an infection of bitterness. Someone may even try to remove the bitterness from us but we enjoy it too much by that point. Only God can remove a root of bitterness and only when we decide to give it to Him will He take it and get rid of it. Then our Lord can and will heal us, but he will wait patiently for us to realize how foolish we are behaving before he heals us. “Why?” because our God desires our repentant heart not selfishness. Our God desires us to seek Him first before anyone else to help us get rid of the bitterness we are harboring. He desires to heal us of all our hurts and sorrows; but we must have an open heart, ears to hear, and eyes to see what He is telling us about it. Then we have to decide to obey Him.
When we eat something bitter we spit it out! |
If you take a moment to think on this, when we eat something bitter we have a tendency to spit it out of our mouths right away; so why not do this with an offence that we have allowed to grow and form bitterness in our hearts?
I think it is because we are in need of three things;
1-We need to recognize that we have the bitter taste, root or feeling in our heart and mind.
2-We need to repent of the harbor we have created in our hearts and minds. Admitting that we have it is the best thing to do.
3-We need to rid ourselves of it; ask God to take it away for good.
Only when we have given it to Jesus will the burden of bitterness be gone. Then we need to remind ourselves occasionally not to pick it back up.
The whole idea of it being called a root of bitterness makes me think of a dandelion root. They go down deep into the soil and do not like to die. We can break it off on the surface but deep beneath the ground level the root flourishes and sends out sprouts all around. Once these sprouts grow there is no stopping it!
If we do not ask God to be our root killer as soon as we realize there is a problem then we will have a returning bitterness. When the root sprouts up it is no longer just one form, it will come out in many areas, many blossoms of bitterness; anger, frustration, contempt, gossip and just plain spitefulness can come from ‘bitter blossoms’.
Let’s make a plan to root out the bitterness in our hearts before they can devour our lives.
Let’s make it a plan to give up to God all offences, injuries and sorrows as we receive them so that He can heal us and make us new. Then we can plant seeds of joy, kindness, faithfulness and forgiveness and grow love for one another!
Dear heavenly Father, forgive us for our harbors of bitterness, help us to root out the problems and stomp on them so that they may die. Help us to get rid of any seeds of bitterness before they get the chance to sprout! Thank you for Your guidance each day, every step and every way we go, in Jesus name, amen.
Suggested reading: Proverbs 6:1-35, Proverbs22:1-28, Hosea10:1-15 and Luke 8:1-56