14 Feb Harbored Bitterness Triggers Unhealth
Hebrews 11:4 – By faith Abel offered…a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts…through his faith.
Has there ever been a time that you feel like you were doing all the right things but there was a person who just opposes, despises, and hates you?
In Genesis 4, Cain commits premeditated murder, the first such act in the Bible, towards his brother, Abel, which may make the reader wonder if Abel did something to deserve it. Abel, however, was focused on his relationship with God while Cain was focused on Abel and jealousy towards him for having a “better” sacrifice. The problem wasn’t that Abel’s sacrifice was outwardly better but that his heart was inwardly purer.
When someone has decided to have a hard heart towards God, the kindness of God oftentimes cannot break through. As the old Puritan proverb says, “The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.” The kindness and compassion of God can melt the heart of someone whose heart is turned towards Him while further hardening the heart of someone whose heart is turned against Him.
Sometimes, we may be unaware to the pain we’ve inadvertently caused another person. However, oftentimes, if someone doesn’t have the Spirit of God within them, if they’re around health and joy, it will trigger unhealth in them. If a person has harbored jealousy and bitterness in their heart, they will get angry at people who are healthy and healed. I pray for your family that there will be health, healing, and wholeness, like the spirit of Abel, instead of unhealth, bitterness, and unforgiveness, like the spirit of Cain.
Pray to have discernment when people oppose you on whether you’ve wronged them or whether they’re actually opposing God.
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