TESTS…DON’T
YOU JUST LOVE EM?
Can you remember the last time you had to take a
test? How about this…can you remember
the last time you were tested? How did
you do? We’re trekking through a series
entitled: THE TEN TESTS OF
ABRAHAM. It’s pretty easy to see
that Abraham finds himself in some situations that could make him bitter in a
short order. This is definitely one of
the options we have when we find ourselves in a test: “Will I allow this to make me bitter or
better?” (Choose wisely, Grasshopper)
Bitterness is that unresolved, unforgiven anger and
resentment. It is the result of anger changing from an
experience to a belief. Bitterness is seething and constant.
Bitter people carry the same burdens as angry people, but to a greater
extent.
Watch
out that no bitter root of unbelief rises up among you, for whenever it springs
up, many are corrupted by its poison. Hebrews 12:15
Bitterness does not affect only you; it
affects everyone with whom you come into contact. You’ve probably
known people like this who, when you get around them, their bitterness and
resentment spills over onto you.
Perhaps you struggle with the same thing. Sometimes people
who have lost a child to illness or accident blame God for their loss. “God,
how could you take my beloved child from me? Don’t You know how
much I loved him? How could You do this to me?”
An abandoned spouse may become bitter as they wonder:
“God, don’t You see how much I am struggling to raise these kids while
he/she is out living the high life? How can you let him get away with this? I
am the one who was faithful, and now I am the one who is miserable
while he/she has it made! Don’t you care about me? Why aren’t
you punishing them?”
The honest businessman sees a crooked
businessman prospering while he flounders. “God, how can You
stand by and let this happen? I am an honest businessman, and my
business is failing! How can You let him get way with such thievery? I
have a wife and kids to feed, God; why are you doing this to me?”
The childless couple is bitter when they see families
with several children and they cannot seem to have even one. “God,
why don’t You let us have even one child when these other people have so
many! It isn’t fair that we can’t have even one child to love while so
many are being aborted and abandoned! God, why are You doing this
to us?”
You become bitter out of a belief that God will not
punish the people who hurt you, that God does not hear your plea, or
that He does not care about your plight. Since God is apparently not going
to intervene in your circumstances, you stand in as judge, jury, and
executioner in the lives of other people.
It becomes a circular pattern. The more you dwell on
what has been done to you, the injustice you have suffered, or the
loss you have incurred, the deeper goes the root of bitterness. You
already know that carrying around a load of bitterness is
exhausting.
Bitterness hardens your heart on the inside and your
features on the outside. It also defiles those around you because it
is contagious.
This Sunday, we’ll be looking at the 3rd Test
of Abraham. It’s got all of the perfect
ingredients for him to become resentful and bitter. What will he choose? I can’t wait to tell you about when we get
together. Why not invite someone to join
you this weekend for some inspiration and a meaningful deposit of some truth
and hope?
I close with a great quote from Max Lucado. He nails it: “Resentment is when you allow
what’s eating you to eat you up. Revenge
is the raging fire that consumes the arsonist.
Bitterness is the trap that snares the hunter. And mercy is the choice that sets them all
free.”
See you Sunday!
Pastor D
No comments:
Post a Comment