Dealing with Roots
Key Passage: 2 Samuel 16:20-22
Date: June 7, 2024
2nd Samuel chapter 16 in God’s Word.
I did wonder; Miss Jody sounded like there was a big question mark about Brother Joel’s cooking. I was a little surprised about that, that lack of confidence in her husband. It was great. He did a great job. We appreciate it. If we put a title on it tonight, we would put the title, “Dealing with Roots.” Dealing with Roots would be the title tonight.
We are at King David, been there for over a year now. And I’m ready to get to the place where the hippie gets hung. But we’re not going to get there tonight. We’re right there at it. We are getting close to the hippie being hung, but we’re not quite there yet.
David, remember King David, he just left Jerusalem. Absalom, his son, is coming in. He’s trying to take the throne and actually trying to kill David. What a sad thing. Last week, you remember, David just stopped for a little bit at a little town called Bahurim. And there he got refreshed.
About the time as entering the city, it seems like. Remember, the guy came, Ziba, and brought him all kind of food, and God met his needs in the midst of just a crazy time in his life. God always meets his servant’s needs. In the oldest of times, he’ll always meet the needs of his servant. I can’t help but think about David when God used him to pen when he said, “I have been young, now I am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.” God always takes care of his servants, meets their needs.
Then remember Shimei, the man came out; he was cursing, cussing at David and throwing rocks at him and dust. It looked like David’s mighty men had David in the middle. They were on the left and right hand. And one of them said, “Man, let me go get him. I’ll kill him.” And David said, “No, no, God sees it all. He’ll take care of it.” And God did. They went inside the city; we’re refreshed.
Today, really, what we’re at—the title, the paragraph we’re about to read in my Bible—it gives a little headline: “Absalom enters Jerusalem.” So Absalom is coming to the capital city. He’s trying to get on the throne there. Note this, and then we’ll read our verse to get us going.
We’ll just do a little quick Bible study, building a foundation. We’ll talk about something after that. But I want you to note he had two counselors, two advisors. One was Ahithophel. Anybody remember a couple weeks ago we covered Ahithophel? Anybody remember who Ahithophel’s granddaughter was? Anybody remember that? Bathsheba, right, right, right. Now, Bathsheba, remember, was the one that David had committed adultery with and then had her husband killed and then married her. Now, they’ve confessed and tried to make things right. God forgives, but just because God forgives doesn’t mean people always forgive. I want you to remember that about Ahithophel, who Ahithophel was. He was a great counselor, but I want you to remember who his granddaughter was.
Then there is Hushai. Remember we studied him a week or two ago? The Bible several times calls him a friend of David. In fact, he was going to go with David and said that David gets to go back and maybe you can help. If you’re in the court, you can give the advice that might help me, and you can send out spies. Remember the priest’s sons, let me know what’s going on, and so on.
I want you to note the counselors that are there with Absalom as he enters the throne and the capital city there. We’re going to start verse number 20. Would you please stand tonight? 2nd Samuel 16, verse number 20, in God’s Word tonight. 2nd Samuel 16, verse number 20. We’ll just read this verse, pray, and then we’ll be seated and go through Bible verse by verse, if you will.
Verse number 20, here we go: “Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, ‘Give counsel among you what we shall do.’”
Father, Lord, I do pray that you would give wisdom, Lord, not just to me, but to the hearers. Would you give very specific leadership, Lord, to everyone? Father, we’re all in such different stages, different issues of our lives. So, Lord, would you give practical, specific instructions from you for them pertaining to the subject tonight, Father, please. We thank you and praise you for what you do. In Jesus’ name, we ask and believe, Father. Amen.
You may be seated. Look at the next verse, verse number 21 through verse number 22 of chapter 16. Ahithophel said unto Absalom, “Go in unto thy father’s concubines, his wives, if you will, mistresses, which he hath left to keep the house, and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.”
Let me just stop and maybe say a word or two about that. There may be some truth to that. I think there is, because later on he tells us the advice he gives it just like he went and inquired at God. But I think there’s a little bit of an underlining message, an underlining motive.
Imagine he is absolutely—the guy is on the throne now. He is trying to begin. What should I do? And the first thing he says is, “Well, take the concubines.” Ten ladies, wives that were left there to take care of the palace. Go up on the rooftop, and in front of all Israel, I want you to go with them, be with them, and that will give your people strength. That doesn’t seem a little odd, all that advice?
Look at the next verse. Let’s see what happens. So they spread a tent unto Absalom upon the top of the house. And Absalom went into his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. Now somebody helped me out here. Where was it? Where was it that David? Where was David at when he saw Bathsheba? Yeah, top of the house. Oh, Grandpa, I don’t think Grandpa had forgotten about it.
Old grandpa said, “Well, David, when you started, I know where you were, coming back to haunt you, buddy.”
Part of it was God’s judgment. We know that. Look back over in chapter 12 of 2nd Samuel. We know part of it is God’s judgment. He told us over here in chapter 12 when he gave this three-part judgment to David through Nathan. Verse number 10: “Now, therefore, three things. Here’s the first one: Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house.” That’s the first thing, because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah to be thy wife, thus saith the Lord. Here’s the second thing: “Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house.” I think for sure Absalom is fulfilling of that. “And I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun, for thou didst this in secret, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.”
So we know a part of this, the reason for this, is God’s judgment that he pronounced. We know that, but God uses this grandpa. And Grandpa says, “David, you got your eye on a married lady on top of the rooftop. So it’s coming back to haunt you right on the rooftop. Your very own son is going to be with your wives.” Can you imagine maybe Ahithophel said, “Well, I’m going to get that guy back. He had my son-in-law killed. He took advantage of my granddaughter.” First chance he gets to give advice to the king, is this what you do? It just smacks so much of what David had done earlier. It’s almost like Ahithophel said, “Buddy, what about this? Put that in your pipe and smoke for a while, David,” that type of thing.
Let’s go back over in chapter 16; we’ll get that last verse. “And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God.” So it was all the counsel of Ahithophel, both with David and Absalom. In other words, Ahithophel, he was a smart dude. He was worldly wise. He knew how to advise to get what he wanted also. A very smart man, very wise.
Now, let’s jump over to chapter 17, if you would. We’re just building a little foundation here, so stick with me. We’re in chapter 16, verse number 1: “Moreover, Ahithophel said unto Absalom, ‘Let me now choose out 12,000 men, and I…’”
Ahithophel, he’s a grandpa. I mean, Bathsheba was old enough to have a child. He had to be a pretty old fellow. He’s a counselor; he’s typically not a man of war. But he said, “Give me 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night. And I will come upon him while he is weary and weakened, and will make him afraid, and all the people that are with me shall flee. And I will smite the king only.” Ahithophel said, “Buddy, I want to kill him myself.”
Verse number four: Absalom and all the elders of Israel heard this. I mean, he could have said, “Look, man, you need experienced men of war.” They said, “You just give me 12,000 men. Let me get out. I’m going to kill him.” This is just not the typical thing. This guy was not Joab. He’s a counselor, typically an intellectual kind of guy, but this guy says, “Let me go do the fighting. I want to kill David myself.”
Now, look in verse number five of chapter 17. Then said Absalom, “Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.” Now I won’t read what he says, but let me just tell you for a second time. Hushai said, “Absalom, you know your dad is a man of war. He’s fought a lot of battles. He’s a veteran military man. He’s known as a warrior.” David has ticked off Absalom. “You better not go after him right now. He’s got his mighty men with him. They have followed him way back. They’re loyal to David. I’d suggest don’t go after him right now. He’s like a bear that’s had her cubs taken away, and he’s ready to fight. You better not do that. Besides, David is good at hiding. He ran from Saul for years. He’s pretty wise. He’s not going to be with all the people; he’s going to be in hiding. It’s going to be a mistake if you go after him right now.”
He said, “Look, you just take your time and gather all of Israel together. And when we find David, we’ll be like dew upon the grass.” It’s kind of like saying, we’ll be like white on rice. We’ll be all over; we’ll take him out. And he said, if he hides in his city, we’ll have so many people, we’ll tear that city down one brick at a time. We’ll put it in a river somewhere; we’ll get him.
Look in verse number 14. Let’s find out what to do about it. Verse number 14: “And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.’” For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.
I tend to think from that verse there, and just my logic, I tend to think that Ahithophel might have gotten David. Twelve thousand men—they weren’t ready to fight; they were scrines around for food. But God sent Hushai in there, and they listened to Hushai. I think God used Hushai to save David’s life, saved his neck. So they listened to Hushai’s counsel; they didn’t follow Ahithophel.
In verses 15 through 21, we won’t read those. But then remember the two spies, the priest’s sons. Hushai sends a message over there, and those two boys took off to deliver the message. They used a handmaid; they delivered the message to David. But they almost got caught. It’s a very close call. But when God’s on your side, it doesn’t matter how close it is; you go in. They get the message to David, and David flees over to Mahanaim, and they fight later on.
With all that, I want you to notice, jump down to verse number 22. Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan. Now that is very significant. The Jordan River was a little bit of a barrier. Once they got on the other side, it’s almost like they had a little barrier, a little space, a little time. They’re in safety, if you will. They’re going to be all right. They got enough space to run for a little bit if they need to. So they’re not going to be able to follow Ahithophel’s advice. Now they’re following Hushai. David’s got some time to gather his people together for the battle that is coming. So it’s very significant here. Middle of verse number 22: “By the morning light, there lacked not one of them that was not going over Jordan.”
Here’s a very interesting verse, verse number 23: “And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and he arose and got him home to his house and to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself and died.” He committed suicide. He took the gun to his head, if you will, and hanged himself and died and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
A friend, do you get it? Grandpa just can’t let go of what David did to his granddaughter. He said, “Man, I’m going to kill that guy.” When he got the first advice, he said, “Let me go out there. Just give me 12,000 men. I want to kill David. Get that guy.”
Yet it didn’t turn out that way, and he did not get to kill David. He is eaten up with bitterness. He wanted to get that guy, and he couldn’t get him. It got him to the point that the guy—and he was smart, man. It was like he was getting counsel from the oracles of God; he was a very intelligent man.
What would drive such an intelligent man to commit suicide? Bitterness. Bitterness would. This guy Ahithophel was just going after David; he wanted to kill him himself. Bitterness will destroy you. It will weaken the strongest of people. It will undermine you. It’s like cancer; it is the thing that eats away at the one that possesses it. It hurts you more than anybody. It will separate you and God. It will steal your peace from you. You will lose your victory in the Christian life. This bitterness will just eat you from the inside out.
Here is the thing that is so sad about it: it will hurt a lot of other people too. And it often uses you to hurt the people you love the most. Bitterness does. It is a sad ending to the story of bitterness. It will dominate your mind, and it took this guy, Ahithophel, to the point that he commits suicide. “If I can’t have David, I just don’t want to live anymore.” What a sad thing.
Now, just for a little bit, let’s talk about this thing of bitterness tonight, if you would. Would you jump over in Hebrews chapter 12, please? God is so wise in the wording of His Word. We get some crazy concepts that man makes up. If we just stick to God’s Word, it’s amazing, the concepts of the Bible, how it teaches us so much. God gives us a very important concept about bitterness over here in Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, verse number 15. Such wisdom just in a phrase of the Bible. It is amazing if you have studied out Hebrews 12. Look in verse number 15, if you would, please. Hebrews 12, verse number 15: “Looking diligently, lest any man fall of the grace of God.” That doesn’t mean he loses his salvation. He just falls out of God’s will and God’s grace, and he loses the blessing of God. He said, “You better watch diligently lest you fall out of the blessings of God,” if you will. He still loves you, but you lose His blessings on your life.
Look at this thing here: “Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, thereby many be defiled.” Now, here is the concept God gives about bitterness: Bitterness is a root.
We often see what is above the surface, but bitterness is a root typically. Sometimes you will see roots, but typically you do not see roots. It is underneath the surface. You can’t just boom, “Well, there are the roots of that tree; there is where it is going.” You can’t see them because they are buried. By the way, sometimes we just want to get past tragedy so quick we just bury it. Sometimes you have to take care of those roots. You can’t see the root very often, but you see the effects of it. If someone just has an anger problem and they just lash out—boom—they just have no control, they blow up, they explode on somebody—man, they are just a loose cannon. More often than not, they have some root of bitterness going on.
The tree that you see above the surface is the anger. You understand the difference between anger and wrath. We have covered it many times. Anger is that initial boom; you explode. You get out of control. By the way, you can be angry and sin not. This is uncontrolled anger. “Be angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” That wrath is that long smoldering inside that turns into bitterness if you let it hold up very long. It is the difference of the two. People have anger issues and they just can’t control it.
By Jesus, when he drove the people out of the temple, he did it twice. He made the scourge that one time to show us. He didn’t lose it, friend. He knew exactly what he was going to do. Did he have righteous indignation? Do you have anger? Yes, but it did not sin. He planned on driving them out; that was not a sin. Sometimes you need to use physical force, not often, but sometimes. Jesus did it twice; they didn’t lose it. Now people just lose it more often than not; they have some bitterness in them. You can pretty much count on it for them—some root they haven’t dealt with.
Just some signs. You can’t see it; it is in the ground. If you just can’t move past it—you ever have somebody say, “Oh, I’m over it, I’m forgiven, I’m past it,” and yet they keep bringing it up all the time? You ever dealt with someone like that? And you say, “Okay, you’re over it, right? Why is it every conversation we have comes up?” I’m not saying it is bad; it is just a real good sign there is a root down there.
You can’t always see roots, but some of the signs: Bitterness wants to hijack your mind. It will dominate your mind. Bitterness will. They have no peace or victory often if they have bitterness.
Here is something else about this. It is amazing to me, the wisdom of the Bible. Look back over there, Hebrews 12:15. “Looking diligently, lest any man fall of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.” It springs up. Sometimes we—and I understand, I am not saying this is bad advice—but it is not always this easy: “Well, just let it go.” Friend, that root just springs up. It is not like you are wanting to hang on to it sometimes. I am trying to let it go. It won’t let me go. It is out there. It springs up. And you say, “Man, I want to let it go so bad.” And sometimes people do not even understand what is going on in life.
There was a man years ago who was having problems in his marriage, his family, and his father-in-law, and he even said, “Hey, Pastor, I don’t know. We might need to do something.” It got to the point that we got some places about and whatnot. The Lord got a hold of his heart, and you would never dream—and of course, I would never say who it is—but you would never dream this guy would cry. He cried a bucket of tears when he told me one night in my office about how he had accidentally shot and killed his friend years ago. That thing was affecting everything in his life. God revealed and really just said, “Hey, you have a root way down there. We need to deal with this issue.” As far as I know, it has really changed the vast majority of his life.
He did not want that. “Well, just let it go.” Friend, I understand. I am not saying that is bad advice, but they are not the one that chose to be abused. Sometimes it is not that easy. Just let it go. Have you ever said, “Well, leave it at the altar. Leave it up.” And I am for that. But sometimes you leave it at the altar, and the old devil comes and picks it up and takes it back to you. Anybody been there on those things? It is true, especially sometimes, it is hard when someone you love very much. Sometimes that is harder than if you are the one that gets hurt. If someone you love very much is the one that got hurt—that is what happened, I believe, with Ahithophel. His granddaughter got hurt. Sometimes those are not the ease of, “Well, just get past it. Just get over it.”
“Well, I am trying to get over it,” you know, that is what you hear sometimes when you deal with people. So let me just mention a couple things about this. How do you get rid of a root? Sometimes you can pull a root out. That might take some struggle, but sometimes you can just pull it out.
Can I say this: Be very careful sometimes because of our desire to move on and maybe appear strong and move on like we are fine. I never forget when I worked for a man, Randy Sykes was his name, and he cut grass. I went as a teenager in the church and cut grass in Florida. One of his first jobs he ever gave me, he said, “Man, this flower bed right here, I want you to pull all the grass in there.” He said, “I don’t want you to just pull the grass. I want you to make sure you get—it was called nut grass. Pull that out. You will feel a little bit of nut in the root of that grass, and I want you to get the nut out of there.” He said, “You are out of here. You are fired, man.”
But honestly, when you pull, you had to make sure you get all the way down that grass and pull it out. He wanted the root out of there because he did not want to have to come back a week or two later and go through that. If I am not careful, I will pull all the surface of an issue. But bitterness is a root.
Sometimes we just deal with the surface; we are just dealing with all the symptoms. I think the majority of fusses and fights in homes are over surface issues, and they never get to the root. If you can pull it out, here is the thing: pull it as soon as you can because roots like to grow deeper.
If you are dealing with major trauma, sometimes you have to pull a root at this stage of your life. Many people have trauma in their childhood and they have tried to deal with it properly, but then when they get married, new issues come from it. And then they have kids, and other issues come from it. But I have to continuously look or try to find: Am I getting the root? Not just the surface. There are root things here. The root of bitterness is a root. Don’t just deal with the symptoms; get down deeper than that.
Getting roots out takes a lot of effort. It is easier to do two things—we cheat in our day and time. It is called Roundup. Anybody know what I am talking about? Praise the Lord, we live in the day and time, the dispensation of Roundup. Or you can do like I used to do in my garden towards the end of the season. I just take the weed eater in there and just plow those weeds out.
But if I do that in life and trying to help other people, then so often the root is still there. Bitterness is a root. If I am just dealing with surface things, I am never—that is why some people, they have issues, they get divorced, and they never deal with the root. Then they have another marriage and they get divorced there and another. About their fourth or fifth marriage, they say, “Well, I don’t know if there is any hope. I am just not made to be married,” or they just get a roommate. So often they have never dealt with the root. They have just been spending years dealing with the surface, and there are root issues. Bitterness is a root.
Sometimes to get the root out, you just cannot pull it out. Sometimes with that grass, I would pull the grass, and it wanted to just tear the grass, and the root was still in there. You have to dig around it to get the root sometimes. Years ago, my wife wanted to get out a bush in the corner of our yard out front. She dug around it somewhat, and she hooked it up—I believe it was our Jetta that we had then. It is a TDI, it is a little diesel; it could pull. She dug all around and tried to pull it up, but could not get it up. I think she had the axe out there trying to get it up. So she hooked it up to the diesel Jetta with the chain, tried to pull it out, and the little Jetta could not pull it out.
So the neighbor down the street saw that crazy pretty lady trying to pull that bush out. He was a tractor-trailer driver and he had his truck, so he came down and hooked his truck up to the crazy thing. Finally, they have the little blades that go down so those tractor-trailers won’t skid. They put those down where that truck wouldn’t move, and he winched that bush out. I am talking about the tractor-trailer. When he finally got that bush out of the ground, that plant must have been plenty of years before we ever got there. And the root, the taproot, the big root, had gone through just a concrete block, and that was way down in the ground. So you pull that root up, that whole concrete block came up out of the ground.
Now, sometimes you have issues, major trauma in issues. Just like that concrete block, you are going to have to dig around. And digging is no fun. It is no fun when you have to deal with root things and painful, hurtful things. You have to deal with things you do not want to deal with. You do not want to talk about it again. It is so hurtful and painful and dirty sometimes. You do not want to go there, but it is a root. To get the root out, you are going to have to dig around. That root is not going to come out easy. If it is a very big root, you are going to have to dig. You are going to have to deal with issues. Satan is going to use that thing as long as it can.
Sometimes when you are trying to get a root out and you have to deal with things, it gets worse before it gets better because you are digging up a bunch of junk, a bunch of garbage. Years ago, you tried to bury it all because it was so nasty; you just did not want to deal with it. But buried feelings do not always die. And it is a root—the root of bitterness. It is not pleasant to do that.
I can give you four helps in dealing with the root, the root of bitterness, the root issue. Just four quick helps tonight. Number one, you are going to have to face it. A lot of people like to live in denial. I am not talking about going around saying, “My whole life is so bad. I have it so bad.” Just a pity party. I am always the victim mentality. Often you will be like that if you do not deal with it, but deal with it. Face it. You cannot forgive something that you do not acknowledge happened. So you have got to face it. Deal with it. Admit it. Not so you can hang it over somebody’s head and go around with a pouty lip for the rest of your life, but so you can move on. The motive is very important there. If your motive is just to get sympathy, that is not going to bring healing to your life. If you are trying to deal with it so you can move on, you can get the root out. There is a big difference there. But you have got to face it. Our temptation is to just pull the weed out, so it looks good to everybody. But the root is still there, and you have got to deal with the root.
Number one, face it. Number two, give God the hurt. There can be so much here. That is why I pray that God would give you specific leadership if you are dealing with things in your life. Give God the hurt. Look over in Psalms, Psalm 62:8, a great verse about this. Psalm 62:8. If you are there, would you say, “Amen”? Amen. Look at verse number 8, if you would, please: “Trust in him at all times, you people.” Notice, at all times, even in times of tragedy, times you are down, times you are hurting. “Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge.” You need a refuge in a tough time. Talk about a time you are hurting. It may be a time when your parents are divorced and Dad left the home. It may be a time your spouse cheated on you. It may be a time you were abused. It may be a time that the people you thought were supposed to love you and take care of you went brutally after you. But God is a refuge for us.
A key part of this verse is that he says, “Pour out your heart.” Sometimes our heart—we have got that root; it is deep down inside. The center of us is our heart. That is the very core of us. We have this root way down in there, but we cover it up. We got the weed eater out. We look good to everybody. We know how to put it on thick, but in our heart, there are things that are not right. Sometimes, even with good motives, we do not want to spill that out to God. God is a holy, righteous God, a thrice holy God. I do not want to let him know what is going on in my heart. Stop thinking about that. We do not always logic it out, but wait a second, friend. What did Samuel say? “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” He knows what is in there anyway. If I have got that root inside there, I am not fooling God. I might even fool myself, but God knows what is going on deep down inside there. So, friend, the best thing is to pour your heart out.
I think about a young man years ago who came to the office and he had had a major trauma in his life. He had been to counselors and whatnot. His parents had taken him here and there and yonder. He was in his young 20s. I said, “Hey, man, won’t you go out somewhere way far away from everybody and get alone with God? And I want you to relive that night in every detail about it. I want you to relive that night with God. And I want you to tell God everything about that night, and I want you to tell God all your feelings and faults and how unfair you thought it was, and the pain of that night and the bitterness.” I want you to tell God everything.
It has been years ago. He is married and has one child. I think they are doing fairly good now. I am not saying that was everything, but pour your heart out to the Lord. He knows. It may be journaling, and you write about 30 different letters about that situation or maybe your past marriage or whatever. You write letters and you tell God, and you are getting your heart out before the Lord.
I mentioned this often, but it was such a good thing for me when my dad was starting to go downhill and getting closer to death. If you know him well, you could see it. I can take you to the spots in my garage and tell you where I poured my heart out before the Lord, saying, “Lord, I didn’t have the best relationship with you all these years, but these last seven years have been closer than ever. Now you are about to take him from me.” And boy, I poured my heart out. But God changed my heart that day. He changed my heart. Some people said, “How could you preach your dad’s funeral?” Me and Brother Martin did. Because God had already changed my heart because I had poured my heart out before the Lord over the issue. But he did not change my heart until I poured my heart out before him.
Sometimes it is like, “God, I know you are right, I am wrong, and your ways are higher than the heavens above the earth, but this is how I feel about it, God.” But you are pouring your heart out before the Lord, and you are giving God your hurt.
You are going back and facing it. When I lost my fingers—it has been 20-something years ago. For the first bit, I was fine during the daytime, besides the throbbing. I held it up everywhere I went because if you put it down, it starts throbbing. So I just walked everywhere. I was at college, so a lot of people at college—I did not want anybody getting close to me because if they bumped that thing, man, I wanted to bump them. That hurt. Do not bump that thing.
But at nighttime, when I went to sleep, I tried to sleep. It is amazing how your mind works. In my mind, I would see it. My fingers were reaching in, and I would see that blade coming down to cut my fingers off. I had seen it happen. In my mind, it is just funny how my mind would put a big chunk of metal in that machine right with the blade, and it would stop before the blade would actually hit my finger. My mind would just play through my mind. I would have to listen to Christian music. Back in the day when they had the boom boxes, you know what I am talking about? Back when we were breakdancing. I had one of those boom boxes that had the dual cassette tapes, and when one shut off, the other one kicked on. I would have music, a good, godly, spirit-filled music on one, and I think the Bible on the other, and that was about the only way I could go to sleep.
I was having a hard time sleeping. So I went to my boss—I wasn’t working for three months—and right at the end of that, I said, “Hey, Boss, we only had first and second shift. I will come at about midnight at the end of the second shift, and once everybody leaves, would you let me just have a little time back in the back of the shop where that machine is? I need to go back to use that machine again.”
It was the craziest thing. When I went back and everybody left, just the boss—we called him Boss; that was his name—Boss let me in there. I went back to that machine. Everybody was gone, and I turned that machine on. It has a big, huge mechanical shear. A big old wheel starts turning, and then I turned it on with the blade that is coming down. It worked automatically. It was just the same feeling I had three months earlier. The same feelings, the same smell. I smelled the night when the fingers got hurt; I smelled it again. It seemed like I was living in it again. But here is the good thing: I could sleep after that.
Friends, sometimes you need to go back and relive this thing, and the first person you relive it with is the Lord. You relive that event, and you tell God your side of this story, and you pour your heart out to the Lord. That is when God works. When you are reliving and you are telling him your side and you have poured out your hurt to him—relive it with him. You say it might not look pretty. God knows what is in your heart anyway. You are not hiding anything from God.
I remember years ago I had a couple in my office, and she had been very badly abused. She had scars where her parents, I believe it was, had taken cigarettes and put them out on her legs. She was a grown adult, a married lady, and she had scars from that. She was just like a cat that thinks it is hiding behind a little microphone stand. She thought she was hiding it all from God, and God sees it all. The best thing is just to pour it out to him. He is the one that can handle it. He is the only one that can heal and change.
Number one, face it. Number two, give God the hurt. Number three, beg God—and I mean that, don’t just ask, but beg God—to help and heal you.
When Brother Joel was using the chainsaw a couple months ago, someone hit the chainsaw, and it cut him on his knee. He had to go to the doctor for stitches. That doctor never could heal that knee up; he stitched it up, but that is all he could do. He couldn’t make it grow together. God healed that. No doctor can heal anyone; God heals. It is the same thing with a heart. You are trying to get that infection out and give it to the Lord. Sometimes, after you give it to the Lord, the Lord says, “Hey, you need to go talk with someone and get it out with someone else.” Often there is healing in that, with the right person, a wise counselor. Not so you can go around town complaining to everybody about it, but so you can move on. That is the whole motive. If your motive is just to get sympathy, no, friend, that may be even a temporary stage for you, but there is much more than that. Your motive must be: I want to get past this thing. God is the one that heals. He’s the only one that can heal.
Brother Joel said one of the good things about that chainsaw was he had just put a brand new blade on there. That is good. It did not have a lot of dirt on there. In this dirty world, you get a lot of infections in your wounds. You have got to get that out, and the Holy Spirit will guide you. You pour your heart out before the Lord, you get that out, and then beg God to bring healing. I mean beg him. Plead with him. “Lord, I do not want to just stay here all my life. I want to move beyond it.”
It may be you bring the thing down to the altar and you give it to the Lord, and you have tried to deal with it properly like God wants you to. About the time you get out to your car, the devil has picked it up. You went out the front door, and the devil picked it up, went out the back door, and he met you at the car, trying to give it to you again.
The Bible never says that I am responsible for every thought that comes into my mind. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” The devil can bring thoughts into my mind. Acts 5:3 tells me that he can, but as soon as that thought hits my mind, then I am responsible for it. It may be a battle for a while if you have a major issue that just will not leave you alone. You feel like it is time: “I need to move past it. I’ve got the block and the root out of there, and I need to move past it.” Every time it comes back, you plead, “God, please help me to move on.” Every time you have to plead, “God, heal me,” you have already spoken to me, and I am trying to obey. I have given it all, and it may be a battle for a while. During that time, you are just begging God for healing. I want to move on. I do not want to live with this thing right in front of my face. It will be there for life, but you do not want it right in front of your face. You want healing so you move on. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, and Isaiah 61:1 tells us.
Then number four, we have got to hurry on. Number four: Focus on His forgiveness. I am talking about His forgiveness for you. Focus on His forgiveness. What was it in Ephesians 4:32? He says, “Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
God may lead you a little differently, but it may be you need to visualize Christ on the cross looking at you. I believe he was that day. I believe he could look out to eternity and see you. But maybe you need to visualize Christ on the cross and visualize him looking down saying, “Hey, I forgive you.” And as he is watching you, you turn and do not have unforgiveness towards others. And it breaks the heart of Jesus. “I have forgiven you.” You focus on His forgiveness that He has given you. You dwell on that thing. You contemplate His love, His forgiveness. So many times we are trying to get all of our needs met by man, when God says, “I am here to meet your needs.” More often than not, if we get our needs met from God, then we can go out and meet the needs of others. Healing is part of that. Forgiveness is part of it.
It is going to be a struggle. You do not have to stay there. Ahithophel did not have to commit suicide. He did not have to end like that. Yes, it is horrible what happened to his granddaughter and his grandson-in-law. It was horrible. But Ahithophel could have had the grace of God, the healing of God.
We are going to be done soon. Look over in Romans 8. You know the verse, Romans 8:28. What a great verse. What a promise when you are going through tough times, when you have major trauma in your life. That is a promise to claim: Romans 8:28.
I want to show you just a very sad thing. Maybe the saddest thing about Ahithophel is this right here: Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good.” Now, let me pause for just a moment. That does not mean all things individually are wonderful. It does not mean that all things individually just taste great. Life is wonderful. It does not mean that. We know that all things work together. God can bring those things together. God is such a master at bringing things together for good. Everything in your life, God can bring it all together and bring good out of it. Ahithophel, even though this very sad thing happened to his granddaughter and grandson-in-law, God Almighty can bring it together and bring good out of it.
But here is the sad thing, Ahithophel: that promise was not for him. It is a conditional promise. God puts two conditions on it. Look here: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”
Wait a second. If I am just camping out and letting bitterness run wild and growing, I am not going to love God like I ought to. It is polar opposites. Bitterness is just staying there eventually goes back to God. I am not going to love God like I ought to if I am just hanging on and I won’t deal with this bitterness. I am not going to love God like I ought to. And the sad thing is, so many people have been through such tragedy, they lose Romans 8:28 because they let bitterness grow way down. And they are not loving God like they ought to. It is a sad thing. Then the rest of it is basically living for the Lord. For them that love God, according to His purpose. Oh, what a sad thing. It had to fail. It just took control.
I am not sure how many years passed from when David and Bathsheba sinned until Ahithophel committed suicide, but I dare say Ahithophel never dealt with the root. Bitterness is a root. Tammy, you remember how many hours you worked on that bush? More than one day. That is why I went to work the next day. I remember. Some of these roots of bitterness take a whole lot of weeks, sometimes years of work to dig it out. But you get that root out. Time brings healing.
Original File: Dealing with Roots - Pastor Paul Chisgar PM 61621