Hope Beyond Bitterness

Hebrews 12:15

Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch
out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
(Hebrews 12:15)

If God has called you to be a Job—a rare calling—remember that the Lord is not only full of compassion, He is also in full control. He will not leave you without hope. He offers us His promises:

“For My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,
Nor are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD .
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9 NASB)

When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD ,
He causes even his enemies to make peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7 NASB)

Listen to the counsel of Peter. Calmly and quietly let these five bits of counsel sink in.

• Consider yourself uniquely blessed by God.
• Do not run in panic or sit and worry.
• Acknowledge Christ as Lord even over this event.
• Be ready to give a witness.
• Keep a good conscience.

A Prayer for Hope Beyond Bitterness

Our Father, as we acknowledge Your Son as Lord, it is with a sigh, because we cannot deny the pain or ignore the difficulty of earthly trials. For some who read these words, the reality of this is almost unbearable. But being sovereign and being the One with full capacity to handle our needs, it is not beyond Your strength to take the burden and, in return, to give us the perspective we need.

Quiet our spirits. Give us a sense of relief as we face the inevitable fact that life is difficult and that there will be those rare moments when it will not be at all fair. Erase any hint of bitterness. Enable us to see beyond the present, to focus on the invisible, and to recognize that You are always there. Remind us, too, that Your ways are higher and far more profound than ours. In the strong name of Him who is higher, Jesus the Lord. Amen.