Roots of Bitterness
Hebrews 12:15 “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”
Roots of bitterness. We all have them. Most of the time they are well hidden; roots, that’s all.
But then, some memory stirs;…
….or some person reminds us of someone else and what they did to us;…
….and “Bam”:….
The hurt is there all over again, and with it, the resentment, anger, “bitterness” of the experience we had…maybe years ago….can be felt, once more.
And the wiles of the devil, our Adversary, are there to prompt and urge them to get larger. The Word says, “springing up……trouble you”.
We believe this “bitterness” covers the whole spectrum of our lives.
From the first memory (And mine was when I was still in the crib, at three);
To the last happening, which caused you to be hurt.
(Jesus said there would be offenses….we are in the world of sin….we should expect these….but “woe” unto the person by whom they come.
We should all be careful not to offend any…..but especially a “little one”…..our children or other children from coming to Christ.
Matthew 18:7 “Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offenses cometh!”
“Offenses” here means “snare, an occasion of stumbling”.
We should all be walking with the Lord, so we will not cause any to stumble or get tricked away from Him.)
You see, as Christians, we have a means of dealing with this resentment.
It is through the faculty of honesty,…..which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, by the way.
We are not naturally honest.
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
If God left the description there; then there would be no hope.
But thankfully, He did not.
(Has He ever left us without a way to come to Him—no.)
Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
“I”, that is, God searches the heart, and tries the reins (which was the center of a person: the will).
To give every man according to his ways: Or the habit of his life:
If your habit is to turn to the Lord, whenever you are hurt or you fail; then God will give you grace and more grace to help and lift you up.
If the habit of your life is to hide your hurts, and failures; then God will (at least He has with me) let you continue to “fester” like a sore;….
…..until the wound within gets so infected…..you must bring it to the Great Physician, to be cut out.
When you face the reason for the resentment with the Lord Jesus by your side, in honesty; then the power of the Lord Jesus, can make the hurt and anger dissolve…….and you can be done with it.
It won’t just subside;……but be as nothing.
My husband’s experience:
There was a man that wronged him at work.
Not just once, but again and again. He continued to do it, still.
And every time my husband thought about him, he became angry all over again. It was getting worse and worse.
Finally, taking it to the Lord, and confessing that he could not do anything about the way he felt about this man….he cried,
Please help me.
So the Lord showed him that man, in his mind….down on his knees before him.
Completely in his power.
And the Lord said, You can do anything to him. What will you do?
Looking at that man, he felt the anger come up all over again….and then:
He realized he would do nothing to this man. Nothing!
The hate and anger was gone, and he laughed. Really laughed: at the man, himself, and the whole situation.
Only God can give you laughter for hurt, and hate. But He can.
From the first thought of “Lord, why have You let this happen to me?
(And here we cause a barrier between the Lord and us)
To the last, “I won’t let them get by with this.”
(Oh, the terribleness of thought vengeance! How it weighs our heart down!)
We can be saved. Saved for joy and peace,……and yes, laughter.
Come, and get honest with the Lord: Ask the Holy Spirit’s help—He will.
And remove—pull up those roots of bitterness, and be free from resentments.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 