Devotionals

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Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 5:6-8

Several years ago, in my parent’s house, I suddenly noticed a faint smell in the air. At first, I didn’t think much about it. But then, during the very next day, the smell became so rotten and rancid that my parents and I began to search everywhere, high and low, to find out where it came from. We checked the vents, the kitchen, and everywhere else, until we finally came to the family room, where we found the culprit—a leaking, rotten watermelon.

What happened was, a few days before, my parents were given a fresh watermelon from a friend. Unfortunately, somewhere on the way home, the watermelon got damaged, leaving a barely visible crack in it. After sitting in our family room for a few days, the inside of the melon began to fester, causing it to rot from the inside out. By the time we discovered this, we were not only one melon short of a meal, but we also had a ruined carpet with rotten juice and a downstairs that stank for days on end.

How much are we like broken melons in our daily walk with God? How often do we hide our pain and our burdens from Him and allow them to fester from the inside out? In Psalm 55:22 it says that you should “cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you.”

Sometimes it’s too easy to hide things in ourselves, thinking that somehow our personal burdens will eventually “pass” or that we’re “strong” enough to handle them on our own. But when things grow rancid in our lives, no matter how hard we try to hide it, we become bitter, showing it more and more on the outside as it ruins the carpet of our relationships and our fellowship with Him. And, like a smelly watermelon that may seem perfect on the outside, but is rotting from within, we may not even realize it all until it’s too late.

When we are hurting and have nowhere else to go, we may think that no one cares enough to help us. But God does (I Peter 6:7) and He is more than willing and able to help us, even if it may not be in the ways we expect. Remember, bitterness doesn’t come to us because God isn’t willing to help. It comes because we were not willing to ask Him for help in the first place. Sometimes God allows pain in our life to teach us and help us to grow in Him. But if we decide to take it all on without turning to Him, we shouldn’t be surprised if we end up with more than just ruined carpets.

Bottom Line: Bitterness is not a solution. But God is.

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