Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK

“Some Things Cannot Remain Hidden”
“Anyone who hides hatred is a liar....” – Proverbs 10:18 (GNT)

I’ve spent the better part of 20 minutes mulling this verse over. I have been attempting to put this into a “word picture” that makes this a bit more applicable to our lives…and to be perfectly honest, it has been rather difficult. First of all, the very mention of the word, hatred, opens up a wide range of emotions—none of which I would admit are pleasant. Maybe the difficulty I am having has to do with the fact that for nearly 40 years of my life I have attempted to eliminate anything that even closely resembles hatred. What I mean by that is for a part of my teen years there were issues that caused me to have less than healthy feelings toward a member of my family…and those feelings spilled over into other areas of my life—even into my new-formed relationship with Christ. As an adult—there have been issues and incidents that have tried my resolve to curtail any anger/hatred matters, and what I find is I am brought back to those early years when it controlled me like a current controls a river. When Solomon says hatred cannot be hidden, he knows what he is saying! Just as boiling water will eventually spill out of the pan if not removed from the heat—hatred has to have some place to go! It cannot stay contained in a confined area.
Hatred is born of fear…or should I say fears. One is the fear of loss. Something has been taken from us that is exclusively ours…or so we think. A part of us has been ripped out and we fix our blame (and anger) toward the one(s) responsible for that loss. For me, it was the loss of identity. I will not go into great detail but when I realized that the people I had trusted and believed to give me the truth had betrayed that trust (or so I believed) that fear revealed itself through bitter and negative attitudes. It could not hide.
Another is the fear of redemption. Do you find that interesting? Allow me to explain. I mentioned previously that hatred occurs because something has been taken from us. It may have been something physical or it could be more emotional. But the loss had to have come from somewhere and it had to have been caused by someone. Now here’s the rub—the loss itself may have been completely forgotten but the person(s) that were the source of the hurt have not. And no matter how hard we convince ourselves that they have been “forgiven” there remains just enough resentment to prove…not yet.
And it will reveal itself. No matter how much you attempt to convince yourself you are “free” the only person you have deceived is yourself. It may show up in negative attitudes—a lack of spiritual initiative and/or spiritual growth. It may lead to not trusting God at all and cause you to lose faith entirely!
There is an answer to release both the fears and the anger. First, admit they are real! Admit there was real loss and it really hurt and it really made you mad! (Profound, isn’t it?) To deny we have never been hurt is to deny a heartbeat. You are human. You will get hurt, disappointed, let down, betrayed, ignored…add whatever response that might apply here to your situation. You cannot hide from your humanity. Second, do not allow the source(s) of your hurt (fear) to be an excuse for a lack of spiritual success! You see, Jesus experienced every form of hurt imaginable—but instead of showing contempt toward his accusers or blaming the current political climate—He forgave. And it was real. John writes: “If we confess our sins He is faith and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1st John 1:9) I have a feeling that applies to a number of other areas as well. Maybe this is a good place to start the healing process if you are working through hatred and anger.
And yes…this does involve forgiveness!! Start with yourself. Forgive yourself for thinking it is wrong to have feelings of pain and hurt. And then take what may be the biggest step of all—forgiving the source of the hurt and anger. That is a great first step to bring things like this out into the open where it can be cleansed and resolved. I know…I have been there! It works!
Pastor J. T. Carnell