July 23, 2025 Devo

My staff and I went through a book a few years ago called Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership. It is a great read for anyone, but it is an ESSENTIAL read for leaders. One of the chapters dealt with where the “roots” of our dark side come from. They come from our Past. One of the statements the authors make is, “We are the sum of the experiences of our lives.” There’s a lot of truth to that. Every experience we have impacts and shapes us in some form or fashion.
But as I thought about that statement, I think there’s a little more to it than that. It’s not just about the experiences that we’ve had, but how we’ve chosen to RESPOND to those experiences. You can take two people who have had very similar experiences in their lives, but they are engaging in life very differently as a result of it. I think it’s because some of us have confronted our past and REDEEMED it. Others of us keep visiting our past and are RELIVING it.
The realization the Psalmist makes is that he has looked at life and allowed it to make him bitter. Now he has a choice. He can stay bitter, or he can get BETTER. We have that same choice. We didn’t get to choose all the things that happened to us. But once we realize how they are impacting us, we do get to choose how we’re going to respond going forward.
I think a great exercise with God today would be to ask Him to reveal where roots of bitterness might still remain in our hearts. The roots could be as old as some of our earliest life memories. Or they could be as new as what happened yesterday at work. Bitter roots produce toxic “juices” that seep out through our lives and relationships. They can cause us to look at life with a tainted, negative, or cynical view. Some people who call themselves “realists” are actually just “really hurt.” They’re just not aware of it. For others of us, that bitter juice comes out as distrust, suspicion, and fear. We drive people we love crazy because we’re always waiting for them to hurt or leave us, like someone else in our past did. For still others of us, bitterness comes out as anger. We’re harsh with our spouse or kids. We’re short with people at work. We have this ever-present “edge” about us. We think it’s THEM. But it’s US.
Dealing with those roots would not only be a blessing to YOU, it would be a real gift to those around you! Are you brave enough to look at YOUR dark side? Are you courageous enough to pray, “Lord, are there any roots of bitterness in me?” Ask God to show you anything that needs to be healed and redeemed in your heart so that you can be all He wants you to be. You can’t change your past. But you can change how you let your past affect your future. Let go of bitter. Get better. That’s God’s Word for you today.