Guard My Heart from Bitterness Lest I Be a Liar

I am mulling and praying over content for a new women’s retreat and as a part of my studying, I’m reading old (really old!) speaker notes from events in my past.

I came across this little excerpt and thought it might be a blessing to any of you who are currently struggling with bitterness:

Sometimes the waves of grief and sorrow (that used to come upon my every day, but now happen only rarely) come over me again … and they sometimes give way to anger, resentment, bitterness, and even hatred. Just last month, I was again struggling with bitterness. It was awful and I was miserable! Fred said “I’m glad your miserable when you are tempted to hate your sister in Christ. If you weren’t, I’d go and get help because then I would know that you are hardening your heart to the Lord. But the fact that you are miserable is a good thing. It shows that the Spirit of God is in you and you know that what you are saying and feeling and thinking is WRONG.”

Oh. Oh. Oh. It is a daily decision to not be bitter. By God’s grace, we can choose to love them ESPECIALLY when they disappoint us and hurt us and let us down.

Jesus taught us that even the pagans and tax collectors love their friends! But in Luke 6 Jesus said, ‘I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who hurt you.’ And in Romans 12, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ Then you will show yourself to be a Christian.

I wrote in my journal: ‘Please guard me from being a liar because I cannot love you, Lord God, and at the same time hate them.’

Oh, friends! We don’t have to fret, scheme, manipulate, try to force things … God is in control. Understand his sovereignty.
Know that if anyone wants to lift a hand against us, they will only do so by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge and command.
 

– “To you it has been granted for Christ’s sake to suffer.” Philippians 1:29

– “Our momentary and light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17 (Doesn’t feel light OR momentary.)

– “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie; my trace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design thy dross to consume and they gold to refine.”

We will suffer. But we can trust from God’s Word that discipline comes from enduring suffering. God disciplines me in love to structure my life according to His wishes. And this is always to my benefit! Even though by its very nature, most discipline is unpleasant. God strikes straight blows with crooked sticks! And we can trust that God does NOT waste pain.

You may be tempted to say, “I just want to get through this conflict so I can get on with my life and my Christian walk.”

This IS your Christian walk! Show yourself to be a Christian by responding to conflict in a way that is markedly DIFFERENT from how the world responds. That the world might know that the Father sent the Son and that the Father loves them (John 17:20-23).