Is Bitterness Stealing Your Joy?

March 28, 2025

No one is exempt from hurt in life. It’s part of the human experience. You will feel hurt, many times over. Sometimes you will be hurt intentionally. Other times someone will accidentally hurt you.

Maybe you were wounded when somebody lied to you or broke a promise or rejected you. Maybe you’ve experienced betrayal or misunderstanding or disappointment or loneliness.

No one is exempt from hurt. But, you have more control than you think. You do have control over how you respond to hurt. You have a choice.

You can forgive. Or, you can get bitter.

If you forgive, you can move on and still experience joy. If you become bitter, you can let one hurt affect the rest of your life.

But, what if you feel like you CAN’T forgive that person? You can’t… without God. He can give you the strength to get through the process of forgiveness and healing. And, he will do that if you choose to forgive and trust him with that process. You can choose to forgive... even if your feelings have not caught up yet and you still feel hurt.

On the other hand, you will find that bitterness is a boomerang. It always comes back and hurts you more than anyone else. Bitterness will only weigh you down and depress your spirit. Proverbs 27:3 says, “A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier” (NLT).

Choosing bitterness is like choosing to carry around a huge weight with you everywhere you go, all the time. It’s an unnecessary load, but you’ve made the choice to bear it.

Sometimes you may think you can hurt the person who hurt you by holding on to what happened—that by staying mad, the other person will become miserable.

But bitterness is a worthless weapon. It doesn’t hurt the other person. It only makes you miserable.

The person that hurt you is probably not even aware that you’re thinking about them all the time.

You may have been hurt by someone a long time ago, and I’m sorry you had to experience that pain. But here’s the good news: They can’t hurt you anymore! The only way they can continue to hurt you is if you choose to hold on to the hurt and replay it over and over in your mind. The Bible says in Job 18:4, “You are only hurting yourself with your anger” (GNT).

You don’t have to hurt anymore. Let go of your hurt. Surrender it to God, so that He can begin to heal you.