We
lived for a while in a lovely house that had a big yard in both the front and
back. My husband and I loved that house…except for one thing: There were many
places in those two yards where underground tree roots had worked their way to
the surface of the ground to varying degrees. As you can imagine, this became
most frustrating when you were trying to mow the grass. You had to try to work
around them without ruining your mower. It was not fun. Ask my husband.
Few
things match the resilience of a sturdy root. Once it gets a good start, it’s
well nigh indestructible. No wonder God chose to use it to exemplify
bitterness, the sin that slips so easily into the soil of our souls and takes
hold before we’re conscious of its infestation. We may consider it only a
nagging uneasiness that is only natural under the circumstances. And more often
than not that “circumstance” is a past hurt or (real or perceived) injustice. In
fact, I think I can say bitterness is harboring a hurt, the memory of which can
be watered over and over with new material to bolster the validity of the
original offense. I have come to believe there is a “forgiveness” that still
hangs on to the hurt, always expecting the worst. And mark it down: There will
always be something or someone to make that old hurt “spring up,” no matter how
deeply we may think it’s buried.
Psalm
14:10 says, “The heart knoweth his own
bitterness,” and I can think one man in Scripture who was willing to admit
it. The beleaguered Job says three times “I
will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (7:11); “He…filleth me with
bitterness” (9:18); and “I will speak in the bitterness of my soul”(10:1).
He even accused God of being the cause of his bitterness (9:18). Nor could his
friends, such as they were, cause him to look inward. It took God to do that.
The
rest of this verse in Hebrews tells us what’s at stake when we refuse to deal
with this insidious disease of the soul. First, it’s a sure sign we’ve failed
in our stewardship of the grace of God measured out freely to us by Jesus
Christ (Eph. 4:7). Paul was able to say that the grace bestowed upon him “was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10). Can
you and I say that when it comes to bitterness? Second, it will cause us
trouble all of our lives until it is rooted out. And third, it will be a source
of defilement to everyone with whom we come in contact. This is why the
discerning Christian will spend very little time with another believer who is
nursing a past hurt or disappointment. They poison the very air.
How
shall we rid ourselves then of this blight? Once we’ve allowed God to point out
our bitterness, I think a good place to start is Ephesians five.
ROOT IT OUT: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” (v. 31)
REPLACE IT: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (v. 32)
I was struck by this danger in my own life recently, and had
to deal with it accordingly. I always think of D. L. Moody’s advice to “keep short
accounts with God.” Now I have taken the liberty of passing it on to you. Will
you accept it in the spirit in which it was given? God help us all to be on
constant alert against this bitter, bitter root.
“When the root is bitterness, imagine
what the fruit will be.” – Woodrow Kroll
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