The Bitterness Trap

Have you ever been caught in the bitterness trap? Are you presently trapped by resentment and an inability to forgive those who have hurt you? I have good news! You can avoid the trap and you can be freed if presently ensnared.

The bitterness I am referring to is that persistent feeling of resentment or animosity towards those who you perceive have hurt you. It is the painful emotions that result from the failure to forgive. On a few occasions the NT speaks of the ‘snare (trap) of devil’. Bitterness is a trap; a device of the Devil designed to destroy God’s people.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 2 Paul, writing about the need to forgive an offender, warns his readers that by not forgiving they fall victim to the schemes of Satan whereby he is able to gain an advantage over them.

Why is bitterness such a dangerous trap? First of all, bitterness is poison to your mind, emotions, body, and spirit. There are multitudes of people who cannot function as they need to because they are mentally harassed by persistent thoughts about the wrong done to them by others. They are distracted at work and at home. They lose sleep at night because they can’t turn off these harassing thoughts. They are prisoners to the people they can’t forgive. It is bad enough to not be able to focus on tasks at hand, but what’s worse is the emotional pain that accompanies those thoughts. Feelings of anger, depression, jealousy, and rejection are debilitating and can very often lead to physical illness. Of more serious consequence to the Christian are the spiritual affects of bitterness. When we don’t forgive we grieve the Holy Spirit and our fellowship with God is hindered. The bottom line; bitterness is the poison YOU DRINK while waiting for your enemy to die! The second reason the Devil loves to trap people in bitterness is because it makes it easier for him to provoke people to do evil. God desires us to be empowered to forgive so we can fulfill the command of scripture to not be overcome by evil, paying back evil with evil. Instead we are to overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12:17,21) A couple of years ago at a NBA game between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers a fight broke out between players. As one of the Indiana players was lying down on the scorers’ table while the referees were trying to restore order a Detroit fan threw a paper cup with beer at him. The act so provoked the Indiana player that he ran into the stands and began to physically attack the person…he assumed threw the cup at him. As it turned out he attacked the wrong guy! Ironically, while he was getting his revenge against an innocent person, the guy who actually did throw the cup was able to sneak in some cheap shots at him. It would have been very funny if it wasn’t so pathetically sad. How foolish we are made to look when we allow ourselves to be provoked by evil.

The third devastating effect of bitterness is what it does to our relationships. When a person is hurt or offended by another it creates a wall between them. This wall can only be torn down when forgiveness is offered and received. It is impossible to maintain the kind of healthy long-term relationships that are essential for sustaining families, churches, businesses, and communities when individuals are incapable of practicing forgiveness. It has been said that the two certainties in life are death and taxes. Let me add at least one more – the experience of mistreatment or injustice. In case you haven’t figured it out, somebody is going to hurt you! It is a reality in almost every relationship. Forgiveness and reconciliation continually necessary!

Here is the GREAT NEWS! The bible reveals to us that we can, and how we can, be empowered to forgive. My next two posts will address how we can escape the bitterness trap.