I am not a fan of movies where, in the end, the bad guy wins. And I don’t think many other people like them either. I am making this bold statement judging by the popularity of Hallmark movies. We want the good guy to win in our fiction as well as in real life. But more times than not, in daily life we see wrong appear to win over right.

You may have seen what happens to people who have allowed bitterness to rule their heart. Their thoughts become consumed with fear and malice and they slowly become isolated in their bitter world. All their joy has vanished. If we could trace the origin of their bitterness I believe we would find that it started when an unfairness, disappointment, pain, or injustice happened and they believed that wrong won over right. Do not discount this. Bitterness is a tricky ploy of the enemy and it begins with waving the flag of righteous indignation. At this point it is our response to this apparent injustice that matters. 

Guard your heart. We are told in scripture throughout the Bible to guard our hearts. But what does this mean? As we all know, our world is full of unfair situations and it is our response to it that matters to the health of our soul. We cannot control those situations but we can control our response to that unfairness.

I don’t know about you, but my gut response to unfairness and disappointment is anger. Then I shoot off my mouth. Then I internalize it. Then it plants a tiny seed of bitterness. Bitterness is an underestimated powerful, slow acting poison. The natural way animals know not to eat a poisonous plant is a bitter taste. This is a lesson from nature. If you don’t believe me, just feed a small child their first bite of broccoli and then duck. In much the same way as consuming poison, that seed of bitterness grows in my heart and slowly begins to taint my thoughts and words. If I continue to feed this bitterness with wandering thoughts and internet rabbit holes, it slowly poisons my heart and causes a long drawn out suicide to the spirit in me.

Praise God, there is an antidote to bitterness’ venom once it has a hold on my heart! It was given in the Lord’s Prayer. “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Forgiveness is the antidote to this poison. And Jesus must have known the destruction left by bitterness because he chose to address it in his model prayer. Forgiveness is anything but easy and it must become a daily habit until all the bitterness is gone.

Matthew 6:12 AMP – And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors [letting go of both the wrong and the resentment].

So what do we do to steer clear of bitterness when facing the apparent win of evil? Again we need to turn to the Bible. There are plenty of stories of injustice from Genesis to the New Testament. But my favorite response to injustice is in Psalms. Psalms is a book of prayers and praise to God. If you have read the book of Psalms through, you will be surprised by many of them. So many of them express fear, sadness and anger to God over situations in life. Some of it seems inappropriate by our standards yet those who were experiencing injustice boldly asked God for retaliation. They cried out to God in the honesty of their feelings. Here is an example from King David when folks were lying about him.

Psalm 5:8-10 NIV – Lead me, LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies— make your way straight before me. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

I believe that is the most appropriate place to voice our anger and indignation. As we become more tuned in to the Holy Spirit we become more sensitive to the injustice of this world. So after crying out to God, we must remind ourselves of who is really in control and in his almighty power which we cannot begin to fathom. God does not tell us that this surrendered life will be a cakewalk. In fact he tells us that we will have troubles but he has let us have a peek at the final chapter and it will be far beyond that happy Hallmark ending we desire.