BITTERNESS IN RELATIONSHIPS and CIRCUMSTANCES

When I was quite a young woman-in-ministry, I started realizing that ‘bitterness” was usually brought about by relationships. Sometimes it starts in the home with the spouse, the children, the in-laws or just people in general. I determined to stay away from ‘bitterness” because it was not a pretty picture. It brought about sadness, anger, self pity, and depression. All of these things destroy our relationship with God and man.

If we would be honest, the reason we become bitter is because things don’t go our way. Yes, we can call it hurt, or abuse or bad circumstances, but it boils down to looking to someone or something to bring satisfaction to our lives, that only God can bring.

Oswald Chambers says: “we are not built for mountain experiences, those are for moments of inspiration. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle.” The valley is where we take on Christ’s character, we must to survive. Every experience that knocked me down took the power of Christ to keep me from getting BITTER. As soon as I took my eyes off of my “offender” and onto Christ, I was able to become BETTER. If I could not get my eyes off of my “offender”, I became BITTER.

Saul was David’s offender, and Christ was David’s source – not Saul. David was in the valley becoming the “man after God’s own heart”. It took a Saul to get the “Saul Spirit”out of David is what I read in Tale of Three Kings. I love that approach, I can then thank God for my offender, because it takes that to get my attention on my source. My source is not man, and neither is yours. Who or what has taken your attention off of your SOURCE? “SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL OF THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED UNTO YOU.”