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Bitterness in the Garden of our Hearts:
 "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God;
that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled" (Heb 12:15).
It is impossible to pass through this world without being struck by injustice or heartache. Unless we process our struggles in Christ, a single wounding of our soul can create a deep bitterness within us, poisoning our very existence.
In my 34 years of ministry, I have known far too many Christians who have perfected the art of looking polite, while living inwardly with an angry, cynical or resentful
spirit. They have swallowed the poison of bitterness and they are dying spiritually because of it.
The problem is that, as Christians, we know it is wrong to react with open anger toward people. However, rather than truly forgiving and surrendering that injustice to God, we suppress our anger. Anger is a result of perceived injustice. Suppressed anger always degrades into bitterness, which is, in reality, unfulfilled revenge.
EMBITTERED PEOPLE
The Bible not only provides the biographies of heros of our faith, but it also documents the lives of common people, individuals who experienced the same kind of heartaches as we have. Some overcame wounding or loss and subsequent bitterness, while others became examples to avoid. Consider Naomi from the book of Ruth. A famine in Israel led Naomi's family to migrate to Moab. Without family or friends to support her, as aliens in a foreign land, Naomi then suffered the loss of her husband; his death was followed by the death of her two grown sons.
When Naomi returned to Israel with Ruth, her daughter-in- law, she announced to those who knew her, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara (bitter), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me" (Ruth 1:20).
The name "Naomi" means "pleasant." We can imagine that when Naomi was dedicated to God as an infant, her parents prayed that her name would forecast her future. Now, however, the very opposite had occurred. Naomi was deeply embittered by her loss, to the extreme of blaming "the Almighty" for dealing "very bitterly" with her.
If you have ever listened to a bitter person, there is nothing "pleasant" about them. Yes, we should weep with those who weep, yet a bitter soul is a spirit trapped in a time warp; they live in the memory of their pain.
Several years ago I met a woman who had suffered a difficult divorce. I talked with her every six months or so for two years, and each time we talked she said exactly the same things about her ex-husband. She was divorced from her husband, but now married to a bitter spirit that held her captive to her heartache.
For Naomi, her bitterness was indirectly focused towards God. She was angry that He allowed hardship in her life. "The Lord has brought me back empty" (Ruth 1:21). My sorrow is God's fault.
Contrast her life with that of Job's first encounter with loss (Job 1:1-22). Job lost his family and possessions, yet he bowed and worshiped. "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).
How we handle sorrow reveals the depth of our worship of God. When life cuts us, do we bleed bitterness or worship? Job bowed and drew close to God. Naomi withdrew and talked about the Lord with her back to Him.
I have dear friends who lost their only son when he was a teenager. In the midst of their heartache, they have become examples to everyone of true worship. Over the years, their pain actually purified and deepened their worship; their suffering made them more compassionate toward the suffering of others (See 2 Cor 1:3-4).
And, I know others who have suffered the sudden loss of a loved one and, within
weeks, withdrew from God and became bitter.
Adversity does not perfect character; it reveals character. It exposes what is happening inside of us.
POISONED
In ancient times mankind experimented with vegetation, seeking to learn which plants were edible and which were poisonous. In his search, he discovered that, generally speaking, if a plant or fruit was sweet, it was usually safe to eat; bitter plants, man discovered, would either sicken or kill. Likewise, the bitter experiences of life, if we ingest them into our spirits, can become a spiritual poison that destroys our thoughts, expectations and attitudes.
Such an experience may enter your soul via a relational wound or injustice; it can begin through a major disappointment or loss. However, once bitterness enters the human soul, like ink spreading in a glass of water, it can darken every aspect of our existence. Indeed, not only can bitterness ruin our lives, Hebrews warns that a root of bitterness can "defile many" (Heb 12:15).
A spiritual root is a hidden, unresolved anger that is buried beneath the surface of our lives. Outwardly, we look "properly Christian" until we begin to discuss someone who hurt us. As we speak, that root "springs up" and it defiles others. If you haven't dealt with your bitterness, beware when you speak to others, lest you defile them with your words; and if you are listening to an embittered person, take heed that the spirit of bitterness is not being transferred to your life as well!
NEGLECT
In Genesis we find another bitter soul in Esau, the brother of Jacob. Esau had foolishly bargained away his inheritance when he was young and then lost his father's blessing when he was old. When Esau discovered he had lost both to his brother Jacob, the Bible tells us he "cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry" (Gen 27:34).
To lose something through our laziness or neglect can create bitterness of soul. Additionally, to have someone deceive us and take what was rightfully ours is equally
as destructive.
I know people who were lazy and did not esteem their education. Today they are bitter employees working for minimum wage. I also know young, unwed mothers who let deceitful boys steal their virginity, which later also embittered them. Even spiritual people can find themselves suffering with bitterness caused by neglect. I know a pastor who was so devoted to his ministry, he consistently neglected his wife. She finally divorced him; cry and plead as he would, he suffered the bitter losses of his wife and the respect of his church.
Esau's loss made him very bitter; yet, have we, like Esau, lost the more valuable elements of life because of our neglect? Have others received blessings that were earmarked for us, and has that loss created bitterness within us? May the Lord reveal to us these roots of bitterness that, like time-released poison, are quietly killing us. God desires to return to us our ability to love and laugh again.
DELIVERANCE FROM BITTERNESS
There are two conditions of the heart no one can hide: one is when the heart is filled with love and the other when we are infected with bitterness. Either condition can take over our thoughts and both can filter our entire view of life.
As followers of Yeshua, we must make our highest quest to possess hearts full of God's love. Indeed, how successful we are at revealing Christ's love is the true measure of our spirituality. Thus, love cannot long exist as an unexpressed or hidden secret.
If love is real, it will be seen in a thousand manifestations reaching to the heart of its beloved. Love, which is in true passion for oneness, is too powerful to be contained by mere discipline or self-control. Is not love boldly displayed in its unrequited gifts, and is it not heard in its many encouragements and expressions of concern? Is it not tangible in its enjoyment of time spent with those it loves? Bitterness, too, cannot be hidden. A bitter soul is not seeking oneness, but justice. It is driven by the unresolved theft of its peace, personhood or possessions.
Bitterness is not just a wound seeking healing, it is a prosecuting attorney building a case against the guilty. Because a bitter soul is conjoined to the injustice committed against it, it is listening to the voice of its heartache and, thus, perpetually wounded by the unforgiven offense.
Dear friends, Yeshua said He came to give us life in abundance. He said He was anointed and sent to proclaim release to prisoners and freedom to captives (Jn 10:10; Lk 4:18).
If we feel we have been spiritually incarcerated by a bitter experience or an injustice, God is not seeking to condemn us for it, but to save us from it. Even now, His Spirit is reaching to release us from this unbearable burden of the past.
How Do We Become Free?
In my 43 years of walking with the Lord, there have been many times that I have been slandered, defrauded or unfairly attacked. I have had my opportunities to be embittered by injustice. Not every wound was healed instantly nor each injustice swiftly remedied. Yeshua said, "By your patience (Greek: endurance) possess your souls" (Lk 21:19). The Message translation renders this, "Staying with it - that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved."
In the final analysis, being wounded or suffering loss is not the issue - Paul said he "suffered the loss of all things." The real issue is that we "may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8).
Let me also say that I know people whom the Lord simply touched and healed or that the offending situation itself changed, and healing came. Let us make room for the vastness of God's grace. Indeed, Hebrews 2:18 reveals that, since Christ "Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." For no other reason except that He loves us, He will "come to the aid of those" who are embattled. Let us always make room for such grace. At the same time, I have also recognized that God's highest goal for me is my conformity to Jesus. (See Rom 8:28-29).
God heals me so He can conform me to Jesus and sometimes He reverses that process: He conforms me to Jesus so He can heal me. In other words, my deliverance came as I appropriated Yeshua's love in place of mine or His ability to trust in the Father when being wounded by injustice.
Consider this issue of trusting God. Peter tells us, "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;" (1 Pe 2:21-23).
Sometimes my healing from wounding and possible bitterness came, not because restitution was made to me by the person who hurt me, but because I learned to entrust myself to God who judges righteously. To trust that God will vindicate me in His time and in His way is a sign of spiritual maturity. It's really the only way we can avoid responding to reviling with reviling and allowing a wound to fester into bitterness.
There are other times when a lingering conflict would become an oppression upon my soul. Again, as an antidote to becoming bitter, Jesus taught, "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad (Luke adds, "and leap for joy"), for your reward in heaven is great" (Matt 5:11-12).
If you have been unfairly treated; if some injustice has soiled your name or threatens your future because of your faith in Christ, one antidote is to rejoice. Before you defend your right to remain miserable, let me ask: have you obeyed Jesus by leaping for joy?
Now, if the problems we are encountering are legitimate consequences to our bad behavior, then we should repent and not blame others for our condition. We still can rejoice that we serve a great God who can work even our failures for good. But if our conflicts are due to our commitment to serve the Lord, then we ought to obey Him and "leap for joy."
The Waters of Marah Christ is not our "Savior" in merely a distant or theological sense; He is Immanuel, "God with us." He dwells within us; He is committed to us. He is fully capable of transforming what was meant to destroy us and using it as a means to perfect us. We must believe that God is fully able to redeem all we go through. If we harbor unbelief about either the Father's goodness or His abilities, our difficulties will reduce us to bitter, angry people.
Consider also, if Satan is set on destroying us, it must be because God has something powerful waiting for us in the future. The devil does not waste his time attacking insignificant people; he attacks those he fears will be used by God to liberate others. If Satan can set up an attack that causes you to become bitter, your destiny will be sidetracked until that root of bitterness is plucked from your soul. How is it that bitterness can exist in us? Bitterness is a demonic manipulation of a wound or injustice we suffer in our soul. Jesus, however, said that the only way to save our souls is to lose them to Him (Jn 12:25).
Beloved, I am telling you how I have passed through some of the most difficult battles I faced: I carried the cross. I believe that my steps are ordered of God. Therefore, if I have faced an injustice, He must have either allowed it or ordered it. In His great omniscience, He knew I would need more love or faith or dependency upon Him, so
He arranged my steps so He could work in me His overcoming nature. My battles are not about me and someone else, or even me coming against the devil; ultimately, in every conflict, God is seeking to create Christlikeness in me.
As the character, authority and love of Christ become functional in my life, my enemies are subdued and Yeshua is triumphant through me. We must, therefore, get over the idea that there is a painless place of existence on earth, and we must learn how to carry the cross of Christ. The cross puts to death our unbelieving, fearful, selfish nature and allows the character of Christ to emerge in our spirits. The cross is the cost that He paid so that redemption prevails.
There is a story in Exodus that figuratively reveals the power of the cross. The Israelites went three days without fresh water. When they finally found water, "they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah"
(Ex. 15:22-23). Marah, you'll recall, means bitterness. They finally found water, but they could not drink it. The Lord, however, showed Moses "a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet" (Ex 15:25).
What Moses did was prophetic. The tree that was applied symbolically to the bitter water was a picture of the cross of Yeshua when it's applied to our bitter experiences: it turns the bitter to sweet.
I know in the many times the enemy has used people to wound or strike me, as I applied the cross to my life - forgiving, blessing and letting love be perfected - the outcome has always been a greater manifestation of Christ in my life.
This is exactly how Paul handled adversity and injustice. Listen to what he wrote, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor 4:7).
Dear one, is this not what you desire most: the life of Jesus Himself manifested in your mortal flesh? Satan has been manipulating your old nature, seeking to work bitterness into your life. The way the Lord has redeemed me from every battle I have faced, has been to use that battle to crucify my old nature and release a greater unveiling of Christ in me. This is New Testament Christianity in its greatest glory.
Lord Jesus, forgive me for trying to save my life. I purpose to trust you, to allow love
to be perfected within me, to not seek justice, but mercy for myself and others.
Help me, Lord. Reveal Your Spirit's power within me. Even now, uproot every bitter plant in my soul. Let my words be full of grace and truth, not bitterness and evil. In
Jesus name. Amen.
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