Joel M Bradshaw

1How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.–Psalm 13

I journey with some people who are angry and disappointed. People have hurt them. Others have let them down. Life hasn’t worked out how they wanted or planned. And when we dig for data together, we find that they are angry at others, angry at themselves, and especially angry at God. That’s how I define bitterness. Anger that’s been in the crockpot within you for far too long.

During this season of my life, I take the angry, bitter friend to Psalm 13. I posted its entirety above. It’s a short psalm. Some of you reading this might even be able to memorize it. And before you roll your eyes, I bet if your favorite song came on the radio, you would sing along with it word for word for 4 minutes.

This is a psalm of David. I invite the bitter person to read these words and put the into practice. Start with 1-4. These are laments. Think of a lament like taking your problem directly to the Manager. David says some hard words in those verses. He was claiming that God forgot him and was not caring about him in what he was going through. He was getting his answers from within him instead of from God. Taking counsel in his soul, bathing in those bitter waters of the story he tells himself. David was angry and felt alone. Forgotten.

Sorrow was in his heart. He was depressed. His story was that not only had God forgotten him, but that his enemies were winning and gloating. The drama and pity kept building. How long was God going to allow this. How long was God going to DO this? If only God would answer David before David died or before his enemies had the final victory.

I read some anxiety in those verses. I definitely read depression. And of course, anger, and disappointment. David was bitter. But he did one thing right. He took his thoughts and feelings to God.

The first of the two steps to bust bitterness is to be real with God. To take all those thoughts and feelings and make them verbal or to write them down and tell them to God. This is a biblical lament. It is an act of faith and trust. David seemed to vomit his emotions at God. Do that. Be real. You’ll notice that God didn’t send lightning to strike David down. No, David was one of God’s guys. God liked David’s heart.

So be like David. Take your anger, your depression, your anxiety, your fear, your sorrow, your guilt, your bitterness to God. Tell him your biggest fears and the things that keep you up at night. The things that have you most angry. The depression and shame that hang over you like a heavy iron blanket. Rather than stuffing those thoughts away, rather than using them as Exhibit A against God, take them to the Judge himself.

But you’ll notice how David landed the plane. This is the second step. Verses 5 and six transition to trust, to rejoicing, and to singing. What made David a man after God’s own heart was that not only was he genuine with God, but he trusted God. Complaining to God becomes a lament when it has the perspective of trust.

1. Verbally take your thoughts and feelings to God. Be genuine. Do this over the course of your day and your week. Write them down.
2. Land your plane still angry, but trusting. You took your issues to the Manager, now trust that he has it. Be still now and know that He is God. Memorize these two verses. Say them out loud after you have taken all your issues to God. Make them your self-talk rather than the stories you have been telling yourself up until this point. Those stories have kept you angry, bitter, depressed.

Psalm 13 is the bitterness buster. Put these principles into practice. Be like David here.–JMB