Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday July 29, 2010

I deal with people who are bitter. When I talk with them their bitterness is understandable though not wise. The root of bitterness lies in the mucky ground of imagining that somehow God has dealt unfairly with you. It is easy to make this assumption when we fail to recall a number of things.

For starters consider the statement of David in Psalms 103:10:

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Had God dealt with us on a purely black and white basis, we would already be banished without hope of redemption. Other times we consider our plight, our lack, our unfulfilled hopes and dreams, while others are living beyond their wildest dreams and we come back to the idea that God is not fair with me. At this point we must come back to David and Psalm 103:10.

For a number of humanly valid reasons Esau, Jacob's brother is said to be a bitter man and from this root of bitterness Esau became a slave to his passions of the field, remember biblically the field represents the world and the world cannot compete against the spiritual in the long run. Esau was so enraptured with bitterness that he spent his life the shackles of addiction to the fruits of bitterness.

Years ago, just prior to a severe lapse in my life for which I suffered much, but still God did NOT deal with me as severely as permitted in scripture, stoning to death, I read a story by A.J. Cronin that God, along with scripture used to restore my soul.

Mr. Cronin says that just after the war he visited Vienna and in that bombed out city he was sitting in the ruins of a church. While sitting there in thought, an old man pushed a wheelbarrow into the rubble of the church and removed a little girl whose body was badly broken and carried her to the altar, propping her up, knelt alongside her and they prayed. When they finished praying he carried her to the wheelbarrow and gently placed her in, wrapped her in a potato sack and as they passed A.J. said, "We come every day to pray. And to show God we are not angry at him."

Even we are in this man's place or with Job on the ash heap we must stay in the Word and on our knees killing bitterness by acknowledging God is good even when we hurt.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010. Use with Credit.

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