One of the greatest problems I have seen among Christians is bitterness - roots of bitterness. It shows up with: complaining and blaming; inability to celebrate, lack of joy; unable to celebrate someone else’s victory. When someone else gets promoted, if your heart is free – you say: “Hey, wonderful. I’m so glad you’re promoted. Oh, you buy that new Mercedes? Wonderful, I’m so glad.” But when bitterness is in the heart: “Oh, how come he is promoted? How come he has a Mercedes, and I have no Mercedes.”
Bitterness stops you celebrating with others. Bitterness focuses your heart on injustice, rather than on the goodness of God. Over and over and over again, God wanted them to deal with bitterness, with the deep resentment that comes out of years of living in bondage. You can’t afford to be bitter. You can’t afford to let anger stay in your heart. You can’t afford to harbour resentments. You can’t afford to harbour unforgiveness. Jesus taught this in Matthew 18:35, He said that when people are unforgiving, demonic spirits have a right to enter and torment them.
So, what did God do in this situation? Look at this. Just watch this now. God already planned the waterfall. God was not holding out on them. He already had a water plan. But before they got to God’s water plan, there was just a little dry period; and up came the bitterness. Look what happens. It says: Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and when he cast the tree in the water, the bitter waters become sweet.
God knew that they would face the hardship. He knew they would face difficulty; but He’s already made a provision. It’s just they couldn’t see it. God had to open their eyes, that He had a tree. That tree is a picture of the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, He took injustice, He took sin, and He said – “Father, forgive them.” When you and I suffer injustices, suffer hurts and disappointments, we need to come to the cross and say: “Jesus, as You forgave me, I forgive them. I bring Your cross into this situation to make my bitterness sweet.
Joseph had every reason to be bitter; but he found Christ in the middle of it. He was betrayed, thrown in prison, he was falsely accused, he was jailed, he was ignored; and when he came out and saw his brothers, he said: “Don’t be hard on yourselves - it wasn’t you who sent me here - it’s God who had a plan for my life. It was God who sent me here - I needed these experiences to prepare me for my destiny.” His heart was free of bitterness. His heart was free of unforgiveness. He saw that God had a purpose in the difficulty - to prepare him for greatness.
Now, listen to me. God wants to change you; but to change, you have to recognise what the issue is, that God wants to deal with. Some of you are harbouring unforgiveness and bitterness – against a husband, against a wife, against a father, against a mother, against an older brother or sister, against an uncle, against some teacher, some spiritual leader.
As you go to pray, you keep being troubled by this person, tormented by spirits; and you notice when pressure comes on you, instead of turning to God - you complain. You blame. You can’t laugh and enjoy life. You don’t seem to be able to celebrate others’ success, because there’s bitterness in your heart. When it comes to the presence of God, it seems somehow you’re not able to access. It seems in your spiritual life you’re not very productive. Your relationships are full of conflict.
Maybe the problem is not the other people. Maybe the problem is in your own heart, and God wants to hear you. In order to be set free, it’s very very simple. I need to come to Jesus Christ. I need to repent of holding these deep attitudes in my heart, and release forgiveness to those who’ve hurt me; and as I release forgiveness, God’s power is released to deliver me. I have found one of the most common reasons people are sick and why they’re depressed, and why they don’t get delivered – it’s bitterness.