Bitterness
Notes
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Intro:
Intro:
The Bomb under the Bed
15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many.
Topics: Anger; Bitterness; Confession; Hindrances; Repentance; Shame
References: ; ;
During World War II, Zinaida Bragantsova of Ukraine was sitting by the window sewing. Suddenly she heard a whistling noise. Then she was struck by a blast of wind. When she came to, her sewing machine was gone, and there was a hole in the floor.
She told people there was a bomb in the floor, but she couldn’t get any officials to check out the situation. So she moved her bed over the hole and lived with it for the next forty-three years.
Then, one day, phone cable was being laid in the area and demolition experts were called in to probe for buried explosives. “Where’s your bomb, Grandma?” asked the smiling army lieutenant of Bragantsova. “No doubt, under your bed?”
“Under my bed,” Bragantsova responded dryly.
Sure enough, they found a five-hundred-pound bomb. After evacuating two thousand people from surrounding buildings, the bomb squad detonated the bomb. Bragantsova moved to a new apartment.
Many people live as if they have a bomb under their bed. They cover up a terrible secret, a great hurt, a seething anger while everyone goes on about their business. But no one is truly safe until the bomb is uncovered and removed.
—Lee Eclov, “Danger of Bitterness,” PreachingToday.com
Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (pp. 406–407). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
What Makes People Satisfied?
26 “But you were not willing to go up, rebelling against the command of the Lord your God.
27 You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us.
What really makes people satisfied with their lives? Amazingly, the secret may lie in a person’s ability to handlelife’s blows without blame or bitterness. These are the conclusions of a study of 173 men who have been followed since they graduated from Harvard University in the early 1940s. The study, reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, noted that one potent predictor of well-being was the ability to handle emotional crisis maturely.
26-27
Today in the Word, November 2, 1993
Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
26 “But you were not willing to go up, rebelling against the command of the Lord your God.
27 You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us.
Bitter hearts are characterized by resentment, lack of joy, cynical attitude…it is the heart that lets the pain of the past or present dictate how he/she will experience the future.
Let’s go back to where the bitterness began to develop.
24 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?”
25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. He made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah and He tested them there.
26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 date palms, and they camped there by the waters.
1 The entire Israelite community departed from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt.
2 The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”
Exodus 15:24-16:
24 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?”
27 You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites so they would destroy us, because He hated us.
Bitterness examined
Debunking Bitterness
Debunking Bitterness
The mindset of entitlement “I deserve better”
The mindset of entitlement “I deserve better”
26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”
Exodus 15:
Sometimes God’s great acts of deliverance take a path through the wilderness.
The tendency to blame “It is your fault”
The tendency to blame “It is your fault”
Exodus 16:2-3
2 The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
7 in the morning you will see the Lord’s glory because He has heard your complaints about Him. For who are we that you complain about us?”
8 Moses continued, “The Lord will give you meat to eat this evening and more than enough bread in the morning, for He has heard the complaints that you are raising against Him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints.’ ”
Exodus 16:
In complaining against Moses, the were expressing their bitter hearts toward God.
2 All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
2 All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
2 All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and little children will become plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them?
Getting out of the Rut
Getting out of the Rut
Recognize the Rut
Recognize the Rut
Forgive others
Forgive others
God will work out the future…
19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
5 Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”
Revelation 21:
Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
Virtually every writer who has weighed in on the subject of bitterness has discussed its ultimate remedy in terms of forgiveness. Psychology Today
31 All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.
32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Bitterness is unforgiveness fermented. The more we hold onto past hurts the more we become drunk on our pain and the experience can rob us of the joy we can find in anything.
But what if your bitterness is toward God?
Repent
Repent
4 Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Remember his deliverance and remember the manna…
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
7 in the morning you will see the Lord’s glory because He has heard your complaints about Him. For who are we that you complain about us?”
Confess
Confess
Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back—in many ways it is a feast fit for a king.
The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.
—Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking (Harper, 1993)
Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (p. 493). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Bitterness is that state of mind that willfully holds on to angry feelings, ready to take offense, able to break out in anger at any moment.
The person who is bitter is often resentful, cynical, harsh, cold, relentless, and unpleasant to be around. Any expression of these characteristics is sin against God; they are of the flesh, not of His Spirit (). warns us to “see to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”
“Bitterness is unforgiveness fermented.” (Gregory Popcak)
Bitterness is unforgiveness fermented. The more we hold onto past hurts the more we become drunk on our pain and the experience can rob us of the joy we can find in anything.
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2013/11/overcoming-bitterness-5-steps-for-healing-the-hurt-that-wont-go-away/#AmEToUCSiXtPXF4L.99
Bitterness occurs when we feel someone has taken something from us that we are powerless to get back. We hold on to the hurt in an attempt to remind ourselves and others of the injustice we’ve experienced in the hopes that someone will save us and restore what we’ve lost.
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2013/11/overcoming-bitterness-5-steps-for-healing-the-hurt-that-wont-go-away/#AmEToUCSiXtPXF4L.99
Bitterness causes us to shun God’s grace in favor of obsessing over the wound. If you are holding on to bitterness I encourage you to take it to confession. Please don’t be insulted by the suggestion. I know that you are the victim and you have a right to your pain
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2013/11/overcoming-bitterness-5-steps-for-healing-the-hurt-that-wont-go-away/#AmEToUCSiXtPXF4L.99
Virtually every writer who has weighed in on the subject of bitterness has discussed its ultimate remedy in terms of forgiveness. For forgiveness alone enables you to let go of grievances, grudges, rancor and resentment. It’s the single most potent antidote for the venomous desire for retributive justice poisoning your system . Psychology today
I like to say it’s like taking poison and hoping your enemy will die.- Joyce Meyer
15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many.
31 All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.
32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
19 The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” she answered, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter.
21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has pronounced judgment on me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”