This post by kathylarkman was originally published at GRACE PLACE
“The godless in heart harbour resentment.” Job 36:13 NIV
“Dear heavenly Father, whether it’s the annoying fly interrupting my needed nap, the thoughtless words spoken by a trusted friend, the new ding in my twelve-year old car, or the old hurt that generates fresh pain, resentment never helps; it only hurts.
To harbour resentment is nothing short of harbouring a criminal, for resentment is bent on criminal activity; stealing peace, vandalizing sleep, robbing relationship, killing kindness, murdering hope, infecting the innocent with deadly toxins, to name a few of resentments crimes. Indeed, as much energy is being wasted as oil spills into the Gulf of Mexico. There’s no greater waste of energy than resentment.
But worst of all Father, resentment is a contradiction, a blatant misrepresentation of who you are and how you relate to us in Jesus. For if anyone has a right to hold a grudge, to keep a record of wrongs done, to rehearse and remember our sins against us, it is you.
Yet you do not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is your love for those who fear you; as far as the east is from the west, that’s how far you’ve removed our transgressions from us. You’re the Father who has compassion on us as your children (Ps. 103:10-13). You show us neither vexation of spirit nor exasperation of heart, so great is your love for us in Jesus.
So Father, by the love that sent Jesus to the cross and by the power that raised him from the dead, continue to heal and change me. I don’t want to be godless in heart but want to be grace-full in heart. I want to be free even from resenting other people’s resentment. I pray in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name. Amen.”