Turn your Bitterness into Mercy

How do you feel when things go wrong, when others let us down, when we hit disappointments?  May be we were expecting some kind of help from someone that we didn't get, we were looking for some kind of praise or acknowledgement, or some kind of promotion or value off another person that we never received!  May be friends turned against us and we ended up very hurt by it.  

These types of hurts can really bruise us deeply.   All the disappointments can lead us to feeling misunderstood but that's not the worst of it, because we can blame the people that have misunderstood us and we can feel very let down, which in turn leads to us feeling the awful taste of bitterness!  Someone who is bitter is angry and unhappy because they cannot forget bad things that happened in the past and when they feel this way it makes it so hard for them to move on.  We can hold people responsible for our hurts and we blame them, we point the finger and by doing so a little bit more love from our own hearts flies out of the window.  In fact sometimes our bitterness can turn into hate leading us to feel very negative and miserable on the inside.  Unfortunately, it will affect those we talk to as well, as what often is in us will come out eventually.  A little reminder to keep checking are hearts. I often say the prayer from Psalm 139, 24:  Search me, O God and know my heart.  Try me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.  Hebrews 12, 15 also says,  Pursue peace with all men, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Be careful that no one falls short of the grace of God, so that no root of bitterness will spring up to cause trouble and that will hurt many.

Thinking on the Easter story of Jesus, when he was put on cross by the roman soldiers, rather than hating the men that were killing Him.  Jesus said something astounding.... he said "Father forgive them for they do not know what they do".  Jesus had every reason to hate but He decided to show mercy. This is God's heart for people, that we show them mercy.  Think of Joseph the dreamer too. His brothers became jealous of him so they threw him into a pit and left him for dead. Then later on in the story when Joseph had become ruler over Egypt, his brothers came to him for help.  Did he help them after what his brothers had done to him?.....Yes he did.  Joseph decided he would forgive his brothers and show them mercy.   He didn't allow bitterness to grow in his heart.


When we are feeling down trodden and angry which let's face it we all do from time to time, I think we have to recall to mind all the great things we have in our lives and be grateful for all the small blessings.  We often take them for granted, it's not until they are gone that we realise what blessings we had. 

This Easter my prayer is that we are able to move on, forgive and show mercy...turn any bitterness into mercy.