Bury the Bitterness
| One who is slow to anger
is better than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled than one
who captures a city. Prov. 16:32, NRSV. |
Hurrying between
classes at the university one Friday, I stopped at the telex office to
collect a fax someone had sent to me. Because it was a letter from my home
country, I read it with eager anticipation. Then all of a sudden I felt
anger like a thunderbolt exploding in my brain. My blood pressure soared
and my heart pounded against my rib cage. Classes the rest of the day passed
in a blur as I burned and seethed with anger at the recollection of the
insulting words in the letter: anger at the unjust accusations; anger at
the injustice done to my reputation.
At vespers that night and
church service the next morning, while the servants of God were busy expounding
biblical truth from the pulpit, I, in my pew, was busy composing a searing
response to the writer of the letter—one that I hoped would scorch him
worse than he had burned me. The obsession to get back at him continued
to hold me in its grip during the following days. I was totally unable
to function during the day because sleep eluded me at night. My appetite
was also gone, for my stomach was in knots, and I suffered terrible ulcer
pains. Needless to say, being spiritually and physically drained, I had
found the fastest, surest, and most unhealthy way of losing weight.
My health deteriorated under
the tremendous emotional strain until one day I awoke to the fact that
the one being hurt most—physically, mentally, and spiritually—by my angry
feelings was none other than I myself. For me then, Ecclesiastes 7:9, "Do
not be quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools" (NIV), took
on new significance, and I was ready to take the Lord's advice to forgive
others for having wronged me, even as God has forgiven my sins (Matt. 6:14,
15). Only then was I able to experience a sense of physical and spiritual
well-being.
| Is there someone in your life who has
said or done something to you that made you angry? Maybe it's time to forgive
and to bury the bitterness. |
|