I Was Bitter, But Now I’m Better

Ruth 1:20-21 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

As I stand before you today, I want to lift up a thought that will stir your spirit: I Was Bitter but Now I’m Better.

Touch your neighbor and say: “Neighbor, I’ve been through some bitter seasons, but God made me better!”

Now, the word Mary in Hebrew comes from Miryam, which means bitterness.

Isn’t it something that one of the most honored women in history, the mother of Jesus, the Savior, the Christ, carried a name that meant bitter?

It’s amazing, but yet God used her to birth the Better Way into the world, the Savior of the world. Somebody shout, from bitter to better.

There is the Reality of Bitterness

Life will give you reasons to be bitter. Just ask Naomi in the book of Ruth.

She lost her husband.

She lost her sons.

She left Bethlehem full but came back empty.

She even told the people, Don’t call me Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara which means bitter.

Bitterness is what happens when your loss becomes larger than your hope.

Bitterness is when your pain starts to poison your perspective.

Bitterness is when yesterday’s wounds begin to rewrite tomorrow’s hope.

Bitterness is when your heart holds on to what your hands should have already released.

Bitterness is when you let the offense against you become the identity within you.

But here’s the good news: God never leaves us stuck in bitterness.

Help me prophecy and say this with me: My bitterness is not my ending it’s my beginning.

Mary — Bitter Name, Better Purpose

Mary’s name meant bitter, but her assignment was beautiful. Out of bitterness came blessing.

Out of pain came promise.

Out of rejection came redemption.

Think about it: When the angel told Mary she would carry the Christ, she could’ve said, why me? I’m too lowly. Look at even what my name means. My name means bitter.

But instead, she said, be it unto me according to your word.

That’s when her bitterness shifted into her betterness. Because what you accept in faith is greater than what you inherit in flesh

Come on somebody shout I may have been born bitter, but I’m destined to be better.

So allow me to show you how to shift from bitter to better.

First of all you must have faith over feelings – Mary chose faith instead of letting her name define her.

Mary chose destiny instead of letting her history dictate her identity.

Mary chose God’s word over the weight of people’s words about her.

Mary chose purpose over the prison of her past.

And my brothers and sisters we must choose the promise instead of letting the problem paralyze her.

We must choose worship instead of letting things worry us.

Chose your assignment instead of letting the adversity assign you.

The second way to shift from bitter to better is to have Purpose Over Pain. Mary realized that what she carried inside of her was greater than what people called her.

Mary realized that the prophecy she carried, was stronger than the reputation she wore.

Mary realized that her identity in God, outweighed every label placed on her by man.

I feel something right here: Mary realized that the seed of promise inside her was greater than the shame spoken over her.

Mary understood that heaven’s assignment was heavier than earth’s accusation.

Come on here Mary. Mary realized that what God spoke over her could not be silenced by what people said about her.

Mary recognized that her destiny was not determined by her name, but by His name.

We must get past our bitterness and see God’s plans for our future.

Because bitterness is tied to what was, but betterness is tied to what will be.

Say it with me: I refuse to live in Mara when God has called me Mary.

We live in a world full of reasons to be bitter. We lose our jobs, we lose our loved ones, go through divorce, we get face rejection, and deal with injustice. Bitterness is everywhere, you see it in politics, in families, even in churches.

So, understand that bitterness will never heal you. Only God can turn it into better.

So what you lost the job, now you started the business.

So what the relationship ended, now you discover who you are.

So here it is: Naomi was an Israelite woman from Bethlehem.

And during a famine, she and her husband Elimelech moved to Moab with their two sons.

In Moab, tragedy struck her: her husband died, and later both of her sons died as well.

She was left as a widow, with no sons to provide for her, she returned to Bethlehem with Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law.