Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32
I don’t have a clue what just happened, but I know who did it! It was a team effort, they worked together and while they carefully manipulated the moment in their favor, the next move determined the fate of hope. Unfortunately however, this murderous moment is not so uncommon and repeats itself virtually every day and often more than once.
Whether its like last night when I couldn’t find the ice cream scoop or yesterday when someone pulled into the parking spot I had been waiting on, it’s as though, as some say, someone just “peed in my cornflakes” and the smell of murder fills the air. It’s when the sidekick accomplice of pride and entitlement lend their support to the masquerade. When my friend speaks the truth and when family seems to turn their back, the characters begin to prepare for hope’s assassination. There is nothing good that comes from the acts of resentment and bitterness — together they murder hope — and everyone gets hurt!
It seems like hope doesn’t have a fighting chance in this orchestrated tale of events, but hope has a few tricks up it’s sleeve just the same. The lord over resentment and bitterness is lies themselves. Hope is drained through the lies I choose to believe — both of myself and others. Standing firm however, on the promises that Christ alone IS my everlasting Hope ushers in THE very thing that unravels the plans brought about by lies through resentment and bitterness. When the ploy is revealed, hope lives!
Lord Jesus, while this story is silly in nature, it conveys a familiar pattern of destruction that so easily entangles. I know who wins this and I know that hope through you is all the hope that is needed. Jesus, I’m asking that you continue to heal me and guard my heart from resentment in the little, daily things, but more so, guard my attitude from bitterness and remind my mind of the fullness of my faith in you and the untrustworthiness of my emotions.
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:19-26