When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within. Psalm 73:21

Recently during our ladies’ bi-monthly coffee meeting (aptly named Grounds for Improvement) the topic was “Bitter Pills to Swallow.” Swallowing a bitter pill metaphorically means that we’re going through an unpleasant experience and it’s like having to ingest something which tastes like bile, is difficult to swallow and too often gets stuck in our throat.There’s nothing to do except get that dang thing down with a little water.

It refers to those times when life isn’t sweetness and light, but suddenly becomes like a tiny, chafing, irritating pebble inside your shoe which you discover only after you walk about. It can’t be ignored and has too be removed immediately. If not, the irritant can easily become blistered and infected.

We all have had bitter pills to swallow. Dreams are crushed, promises are broken, children go off the rails, health is one annoying ailment after another, a loved one dies and you’re left unmoored with stacks of bills or forms to fill out. The bitterness comes because life suddenly isn’t how you hoped it would be, your faith struggles and is tested , and love …? Well , it’s hard to love when your mouth is full of bitterness.

I identified with the discussion because that morning I’d taken my stash of pills (keeping me stroke- free) , swallowed the handful with water, but one pill didn’t go down with the rest.  It lingered like gall in my mouth and the nasty taste remained even after I’d swallowed it. The funny thing is that this pill was the tiniest of all of them – a 2.5 mg blood pressure medication. It’s so small – and yet so potent. It can save my life, but when stuck on my tongue it is bitterness itself. It feels like poison, not life-saving medicine.

Jesus said that we would have trials: some as small as pebbles in our sandals, others crushing, loosened boulders. We shouldn’t be surprised that bitter pills are scattered on the paths ahead of us. Jesus promised to help us during every moment, especially during heart aches. He offers the solution to any bitterness which we might carry – forgiveness. I think of His final words as he was nailed to the cross, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.” He spoke while experiencing the most bitter pill of all – the weight of our sin and the momentary sense of the Father’s abandonment ! We are to forgive as Jesus did. Always. Peter was told seventy  times seven,  times even if it meant him swallowing his pride each time.

The smallest “pill” of bitter unforgiveness can be the most destructive. Judas betrayed Jesus with a simple kiss. The Bible doesn’t say what turned his heart against Christ, but I can speculate there was a seed of bitterness Judas nurtured, some unrecorded slight, rejection or disappointment which poisoned him. Jesus forgave and went to the cross for Judas, also.

Ephesians 4:31, 32 tells us how to “swallow bitter pills” as disciples of Jesus. .

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.