Fail of the grace of God

Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled


Fail of the grace of God.


No one likes to talk about this, no one. Am I being dramatic? Yes, most likely I am. Maybe it's just me that doesn't like to talk about this, or think about this. Failing of the grace of God?! When there is so much in life we can fail at, this is the ONE thing we do not want to fail to receive.


Just the idea of it being possible to fail of the grace of God is frightening. How do we avoid this? By LOOKING DILIGENTLY. What are we looking diligently for or at? We have to look at ourselves, our lives and what are we looking for in ourselves? ANY root of bitterness springing up to trouble us.


Root of bitterness.


Hannah-
1Sa 1:10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

Hannah prayed in the bitterness of her soul and was redeemed. Hannah didn't live in that bitterness without action. She had the bitterness in her and she prayed, she wept. She believed that God heard her prayer. We can't expect not to be bitter about everything in life that happens, but when that bitterness comes we have to do all we can to pray and get rid of that bitterness. We have to…trust, we have to have faith in God as the bitterness threatens to overwhelm us. Bitterness can consume us. Bitterness can develop in us and when it does that we are no longer trusting in our Savior. We have to be DILIGENT about looking for any bitterness inside us. Maybe there is something in us, maybe some old hurt that we've buried and have yet to seek forgiveness for. Maybe our lives are wrapped up in a cloak of bitterness, and maybe, just maybe we've become immune to the realization of the bitterness disguising it under a different part of our personality. Is it possible?


Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.


Fornicator, profane person- for ONE morsel sold his birthright.
After selling his birthright- he was REJECTED. He found NO place of repentance- though he SOUGHT it CAREFULLY with TEARS.

HE SOUGHT IT! With TEARS!


I want to believe that anyone who seeks repentance will find it, especially if they are seeking it carefully with tears. But sometimes when we commit acts we can't take them back, we can't get back what we've lost. Sometimes it is too late. Esau sold something he could NEVER get back. We all face this trial in our own way. Sometimes it is too late. I don't want to believe it, I want everyone to have endless opportunities to repent and find forgiveness. We have to realize that Esau sold his birthright to keep from suffering hunger and did he want it right back? Did he regret what he'd done as soon as he'd done it? Did he go on and live with the fact he'd sold his birthright happily, unconcerned, believing that he'd done no wrong? Was it ONLY when he realized just how important that birthright was - when it came time to claim it- that it meant anything to him and by then he was more sorry for losing the benefits of the birthright than he was for what he'd done. You know what I mean. Being sorry for our actions is different than being sorry for the outcome of our actions. Esau wasn't sorry he sold the birthright, he wasn't sorry for that action not until the action was attached to the realization he'd sold much more than just his birthright. We can go out and sin - taking pleasure in our sins, we can choose to sin rather than suffer, and at the moment it seems well and good. But then later on maybe we come down with a disease and then we regret the sinning and we might even cry because we feel so upset over having sinned, we might repent of that action with a lot of tears but we are repenting of the outcome, not the actual sin. We are WISHING we never did the sin that brought the consequence. Would we repent if the sin hadn't had that consequence? No. Esau would NEVER have repented if the consequence hadn't existed.


Our sins have consequences.


Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled


Any root of bitterness comes up troubling you.


This is what we really need to understand, the roots of bitterness that trouble us.


Could it be allowing any bitterness to remain in ourselves over anything?


Esau was bitter- his repentance came from his bitterness, it wasn't true repentance. If we are bitter over something we are holding resentment and if we are clinging to resentment over something then we are not allowing God to fill us with Himself because He cannot dwell where there is bitterness and resentment. We all have what we call our pet peeves, our particular situations that cause angst to arise in us and we label them okay because we are so used to them and don't really consider them problems, just our pet peeves. See, we even label them pets which makes them sound like companions of sort. Could they be bitter roots? Do those pet peeves trouble us? They wouldn't be peeves if they didn't offer annoyance to us, would they? Many will be defiled by roots of bitterness troubling them. That's a frightening thought.


Bottom line? Maybe the bottom line is being troubled. When we are troubled by something we are stressing over it- a more modern term we can relate to. When we stress we are not trusting in God. When we don't trust in God then we are lost because He is our source of life and we must trust in Him for ALL things. We have to stop trying to handle everything ourselves. Easier said than done, I know. We see others suffering and it causes us stress. It'd be odd to see a loved one in pain and not be stressed by it, that would make us callous, right? Trusting in God makes us seem unfeeling to people. HOW COULD WE ACT SO UNFEELING!? YOU'RE HEARTLESS! Why? Because we choose to let God be in control? We choose to realize we can't rely on ourselves for anything, but have to rely on God for all things. When we rely on God we let go of everything that would trouble us and by let go I mean we face the facts and our limitations, we face that what is beyond our limitations must be left to God.


If we are having problems and a way out of them is presented to us but we choose not to take that way- thinking God will answer in another way, we are guilty of neglecting God's way of answering.


Everyone knows that old tale that has been told endless times about a man falling over a cliff hanging on just by one hand and crying out to God to save him. The only message he receives is let go. But the man doesn't want to let go. The man has envisioned help coming in a different way perhaps from being pulled up by someone, letting go isn't something he's prepared to do. So clinging to that cliff the man dies. If he'd let go like God was telling Him to do he would have landed on a jutting rock below, but the man didn't know the jutting rock shelf was just beneath him. He didn't trust, he wanted God to answer in another way.


What we can do ourselves we are to do, what we can't do we have to have faith that God will accomplish it however He chooses.


Also, we have to realize that suffering is part of our lives and being called to suffer doesn't mean God has forsaken us or wants us to leave Him.


Suffering and holding fast to God, having faith in God doesn't mean not crying, it doesn't mean not being upset- it means NOT giving up on God. Even as the tears fall we must believe that God is in control and no matter how it seems, things will work out for our eternity.


Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled


Any bitterness in us that would defile us- that would trouble us and turn us from God must be done away with and we have to constantly watch out for the bitterness that would do that to us.


By the grace of our Lord may we be ever watchful not allowing any bitterness to rise up in ourselves to trouble us away from Him in any way. May we take stock of our lives and recognize any and all troubling within us and give that troubling to God. What we may think is minor could have roots deeper than we imagine. Any bitterness inside over anything must be given to our Lord, we cannot be troubled by life as if God doesn't exist and we are not promised eternity after this life of suffering.


Please Lord bless us, help us, guide us, and keep us in YOU now and forever!


By Your grace!


Amen.