Better Not Bitter by Vance I. Dash

Author:Vance I. Dash [Dash, Vance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781984528438
Publisher: Xlibris US
Published: 2018-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

BETTER, NOT BITTER

In the previous chapters of this book, I elaborated on the spiritual, physical, emotional, and psychological effects bitterness can have on the life of an individual. Torment is like a nagging toothache or a horrific migraine. But of course, the effects are much worse because it traumatizes the total person. In life, we must make conscience decisions.

One in particular is, I can get busy living or get busy dying. An Asian philosopher once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Make positive, constructive decisions that will have benefit you in the long run. You, through Christ, are in control of your destiny. Don’t allow the ravages of the past to dictate the climate of your future.

Bitterness can become contagious and cancerous; it can eat away your inner mayour peace, joy, health, and well-being. In the Bible, there are several accounts of bitter people. One in particular is Naomi in the book of Ruth. In this story, Naomi, the matriarch, loses her husband and her two sons in a short span of time. Naomi mistreated her daughters-in-law to return to their homes in hope of finding new lives. She said in her grief and bitterness, “I am too old to have more sons, and if I did, would you wait for them until they are grown? Would you refrain from having husbands for their sake? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me” (verse 13).

Here is a perfect example of how the spirit of grief is a by-product of bitterness. Orpah kissed Naomi. That was to say, “I thought about what you said. I love you, but no can do. I’m out.” But Ruth clave unto her.

Verse 19 says they came to Bethlehem, and all the city was around them. And they said, “Is this Naomi.” In Hebrew, it means “my delight or pleasant one.” And in verse 20, she said unto them, “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”

Mara is derived from myrh, which means “bitterness.” In the next verse, we discover that Naomi was upset with God or the saints. When we don’t understand what God is doing in our lives, it’s normal to be dismayed, but be careful not to charge God foolishly.

In Job 23:3, Job, in his indignation, said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him. That I might come even to His seat.” In verse 4, he continued, “I would order my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.” In verse 8, he said, “Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him.” And in verse 9, he stated, “On the left hand, where he doth work, but I could not behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him.

In my personal and silent frustration, I questioned God and asked, Why so

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