Have you ever seen someone “freak out” on others for not very good reasons? Sometimes, anger and outbursts can be directed at others while displaying that the real trouble is inside. Bitterness warps a person’s perspective like that.
It is said that psychologist Sigmund Freud died at 83, bitter at the world. In 1918 he wrote, “I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all” Veritas Reconsidered, p. 36.
Embittered people only see the problems out there. Bitterness blinds people from seeing the hate and grudges they manifest on the world.
Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other’s business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival. One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, “I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?” The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, “Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!” – Told by Thomas Lindberg and found on SermonIllustrations.com.
If you would prefer to see someone fail, bitterness has crept into your heart. This is where the book of Jonah wraps up, with a prophet that does not celebrate God’s mercy and the repentance of Nineveh. Instead, he laments God’s mercy and wants to die. “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live” – Jonah 4:2b-3.
Embittered to the point of despair because of God’s mercy. Do you despair, are you critical of a lot of things and a lot of people, are you nursing a grudge against someone or a group of people? Jonah had legitimate complaints against the evil of the Ninevites, and so does everyone that becomes embittered. But what they miss while in that emotional place is God’s love. What will you let fill, and flow from, your heart?
Pastor John Riley