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Can God Get Glory from My Life?

    by Dominique Henderson

Resolving Bitterness - Part 1
Date Posted: November 22, 2009

Why are we commanded to “guard our hearts above all else”? (Proverbs 4:23). My pastor recently mentioned that “above all” is only used sixteen times in the Bible and this is the only place where “above all else” is used—signifying utmost importance in this command. Another thing to note is that we are not talking about the muscle inside your ribcage. The word “heart” in the Hebrew can be translated as our “mindset”. Essentially our mindset is the seat of our emotions, or the place where our motives are formed. And since we are defining terms, a motive is just an inner impulse that produces an outward action. So back to Proverbs, the wisest man that ever lived (aside from the spirit of wisdom possessed in Jesus Christ) tells us to guard the seat of our emotions above all other things. Why is this? My two cents is because tucked away in the book of Esther, a story of bitterness with epic proportions should put every believer, if not human being, on watch. The second part of Proverbs 4:23 says, “Because from it [the heart] flow the issues of life”. Can we guard against bitterness, pride, malice and every other vice that tries to come against us in life? Certainly—with the help of the Holy Spirit. Why else would we be admonished by King Solomon (a very wise man!) to do so? For the next couple of weeks, let’s explore this story in Esther about bitterness that is so intriguing and glean from it the lessons we need in order to live a life free of bitterness.

Background

I will not outline the entire book of Esther in this writing, so please take the time to read the book of Esther in order to get a picture of how this story forms and where it goes. I will say that culturally, this story draws strong parallels to racial and ethnic divides present in our society today. Even though it takes place many years ago in the Persian empire which is drastically different from modern day USA, the similarities in modes of thought are astounding. In that empire, there were laws that even tested the sovereignty of the king, just as bogus legislation has weakened the power of government today. The book’s name sake and main character was a slave, but some time the most pure truths come from the lowliest of sources. So this is to say that there are some cultural hurdles that need to be understood. But in this story the character of Haman is where we want to focus. Haman is an Amalekite descendant and has a huge axe to grind with all Jews (more on this later). It is possible he was raised to despise Jews as lower-class. Although we have no record of how he was raised, we can gather a parallel of what that was like since we still have a degree of racial prejudice in the world today. Haman’s intolerance towards this race of people was possibly instilled in him from his youth and was met one day with his view of one Jew’s (Mordecai) obstinance. Before moving forward, let’s pause on why Haman’s upbringing may have not been his choice, but still didn’t prevent him from making the correct choice.

We Choose Our Choices

First, we must always take responsibility for our choices and actions. Point blank, no discussion. Realizing that, understand that Haman had all the reason in the world to hate Jews, or did he? Haman was a direct descendant of King Agag. Do you remember him? This was the Amalekite king that King Saul was commanded to destroy by God in 1 Samuel 15. The prophet Samuel ended up executing punishment after Saul failed to obey the Lord. Scholars contend that this was a possible cause that Haman’s ancestors had to hate the Jewish nation. Because God used the Jews to execute judgment on the Amalekites, Haman harbored a grudge. Hmmm. I say pick your battles wisely and choose better enemies than the Almighty God, but maybe Haman thought otherwise. Or was there a jealousy that God chose Jews over his people. Who knows? But here is the first principle that I glean from this: when I guard my heart, I never pass judgment without all of the facts. In Esther 3:8-11, Haman comes to King Xerxes and complains that the Jews never follow instructions and have laws of their own, etc. etc. But he is unaware of the fact that God made a covenant to Abraham to bless his seed and to prosper them. He is also unaware of that fact that the Amalekite nation tried to hinder God’s plan by attacking the Israel nation as they exited Egypt (see Deuteronomy 25:17-19 ). Without these facts, he adopts a mentality or mindset to despise the differences of Jews and to make the choice to harbor bitterness towards this nation of people. Do you see how leaving his heart unguarded, allowed a flow of bitterness from his mind? These Jews deserve punishment they don’t regard law! Or to bring it home, “[insert a name] doesn’t appreciate all my hard work and labor, I can’t stand their stubborn, ungrateful attitude”. Have you ever had thoughts like these? I know I have had the self-thrown, self-invited, pity parties. Let me just say, no matter what has been done to you in the past you can choose not to harbor bitterness about it. You may find that in serving people you are dishonored and ridiculed all the more! Here is where we implored to “guard our hearts”. Guard the motives by which we do things. Are we doing them for God’s glory or our own? So let’s say there is some grave injustice that was done to you that needs to be punished (and it will be, by God’s own words see Romans 12:19), you are still commanded to guard your heart (or mindset) against hate, anguish, resentment and every other vice that will lead you to make bad decisions. Haman was directly responsible, just like you and I are, of his actions. You and I are able to evaluate our motives (inner thoughts or impulses) before we carry out an action. This is what Haman should have done prior to seeking revenge on the entire Jewish nation, just because he was incited by Mordecai’s refusal to pay him honor by not bowing.

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Biography Information:
Dominique Henderson is a believer in the one and only Son of God - Jesus Christ.  After being a believer for many years, he didn't begin to realize the purpose God had for him until the age of 30.  He has a passion for fellow musicians and worship leaders that have allowed Satan to distract them from their God-given gifts.  He now lives day by day following the lead of the Holy Spirit--not perfectly but diligently. He enjoys writing and spending time with his wife, Briana, and their three children.
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