My entire body was engaged in the
moment. The sun was starting to set and I could feel the sweat dripping from my
brow. In no way would I allow my enemy to have victory over me. I stood there for a moment, snarling at my
beaten opponent. I was not going to hold back. No, not this time. Not after all
of the battling, endless fighting, and useless attempts at alternative methods.
I dropped the shovel and picked up my axe. With fire in my eyes I determined to
finish the job, right here, right now. With my enemy at my feet, I lifted the
axe and brought it down with all my might. I could feel it passing through,
leaving me with a surprising sense of relief. It was over.
It
is incredible what people are capable of when under the sway of bitterness. I
will be the first to admit that I have done certain things I am not so proud of
when under its influence. As a matter of fact, some of the things I have done
may be considered downright despicable. It's not just me though. Be honest with
yourself. What have you done under the sway of bitterness that you know wasn't
right? Have you set out to destroy the lives of others? Have you sabotaged
opportunities? Have you verbally assaulted those around you? Maybe you've even
physically abused your spouse or children? This is what the Bible reveals about
the root of bitterness: "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace
of God; lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled"
(Hebrews 12:15)
God
recently brought me a fresh perspective regarding the root of bitterness. As a
matter of fact, He used the experience that I opened this article with to do
it. What sounds like a scene out of a horror movie really has a very practical
explanation. I'm not attempting to excuse my actions, but I will do my best explain.
I bought a new house last autumn. Now that the winter has passed it's time for
the infamous "honey-do" lists. For the record, I am not a fan of
these terrible things and frankly, my wife became somewhat ambitious and drove
me to the point of no return.
So
there I was, perplexed, trying to figure out how in the world to remove three
giant bushes from the front of my house! I tried to argue my way out of it and
make a case for the futility of the effort, but all was to no avail. Furthermore, the only tool I had was a five
dollar shovel that we bought on sale. Thank God for my neighbor who was willing
to loan me an axe and pneumatic saw before I got started! With these tools it
brought the undertaking into the realm of possibility, but it turned into a
long and arduous process.
The
first step was to deal with the bushes themselves. I had to cut the branches
out of the way piece-by-piece until I had cut enough away to gain access to the
stump. This took some time, but the pneumatic saw really sped things up. That
is, however, until I got near the base of the bushes and realized that their
stumps were too thick for the pneumatic saw! My only option was the
back-breaking work of chopping away at them with the axe. Mind you, these stumps
were thick. I'm talking diameters of six to ten inches! It was like chopping
down a not-so-small tree...three times in a row.
I finally
managed to chop down all of the bushes and haul them to my tree lawn. The
problem was that the bush stumps still remained, and my wife had other plans
for that space! So there I was, back outside the next day, still sore, trying
to figure out how I was going to remove three bush stumps with a five dollar
shovel and an axe. Not the ideal situation, but where there is a will there is
a way. In this case, my wife provided all the will that I needed to get moving!
As
soon as I got a couple inches underground I struck part of the root system that
was used by the stump. These exist to
absorb nutrients from the dirt and provide life force to the entire plant. As
you can imagine, it didn't break without a fight. I had to dig around it, expose
it, and then strike it with the axe. It wouldn't have been so bad if there were
only two of three of these, but there were dozens. As I continued digging what
seemed to be a bottomless hole in front of my house I had to keep repeating the
process of digging around the large roots to expose them. To make a long story
short, when I got to that third bush and put the axe through the final root, it
was a great sense of relief!
The
moral of the story is that getting free of bitterness often comes about through
a similar process. First we have to remove what's above the ground and cut it
off with our sword which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). This will expose
the stump. The reason the Bible refers to the root of bitterness is because the true source of this issue
is often hidden beneath the surface. It maintains tremendous strength and
resiliency due to an extensive root system, drawing its life force from all of
the dirt in our lives. Dealing with bitterness can be like going through
spiritual surgery, as often the Lord will take us from one root to another,
severing them with His word, in order to get the whole stump out of there. The
good news is that however painful or back-breaking the process is, the relief
that comes at the end always makes it worth it. Let go and let God!
