What To Do With Bitterness


 By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None of His Benefits:

“Put all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander away from you, along with all malice.” -Ephesians 4:31

Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, the powerful Scottish Covenanter preacher of the 17th century, along with so many other preachers, was driven from his pulpit by Charles II of England. Cameron and many like him took their congregations to the fields and forests in Scotland to continue their pulpit ministries. In 1670 Charles made such public gatherings and preaching a capital offense, and he sent his army into Scotland to hunt down the Covenanter preachers. Richard knew his days were numbered and while preaching one day to his congregation Charles’ army disrupted the service, arresting Cameron. Before being executed before the eyes of his congregation, Richard Cameron prayed, asking the Lord to “spare the green and take the ripe.” His head and hands were severed from his body and taken to a prison in Glasgow where Alan Cameron, his father, was being punished for the same crime, preaching the gospel of grace. When shown the head and hands, and asked if he knew to whom they belonged, Alan Cameron kissed them and said, “These belong to my dear son. The Lord has done it. The Lord has been good to me and mine. The Lord has given us mercy and grace all our days.” How could a father respond with such faith, devoid of bitterness and wrath? He understood three things about God and applied them to his life. He believed in God’s sovereignty (what happened was no accident, it was not fate, this was God’s plan for his son), God’s wisdom (He always does the right thing, the first time, every time), and God’s goodness (that all of God’s blows are love, that all hardship and trial flow from a God of goodness who works good in all things for those who love Him).

Read more...

Comments