by Shelley Lubben  

Let’s read together in 1 Samuel 30:3-5, 6

When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.

6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord His God.

David and his men are standing at a spiritual intersection.
That intersection is called bitter and better.

“David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him.”

The men were already headed down bitter road. The weeping has ended and now they want to find someone to put the blame on. Questions start forming in their minds:

 “Why did this have to happen to us?”
“Whose fault is this?”
“Who is responsible for this?”

They’re already headed down bitter road.

But while that’s happening there’s another option going on.
David is saying I don’t want to go in that direction.
I’m hurting too. I’ve been through the same thing you’ve been through.
But I’m not going down that road.

At the time of crisis everyone stands at the intersection of bitter and better.
EVERYONE. The further you go down the bitter road the heavier the weight gets. The more you travel down this road, the grumpier and grouchier you get, the more irritable and frustrated you feel. The further people go, the angrier they become at the world and everybody else. They get more negative rather than get more positive.

On the other hand, there’s another road called better. It’s a very narrow road because few people go there. But the further you go down this road, the lighter your spirit becomes, the more peace of mind you have, the better relationships you have. The broken relationships at the intersection are restored as you walk down better road. Down this road you find restoration.

You’ll be able to look back and say boy that was a hard time in my life but God was able to take my difficult time and work it out for my good.

David made the choice not to become bitter but to get better. In fact, David got back everything he lost that day! He and his men reclaimed everything that was stolen from them and so can you. Everything you lost at that intersection you can get back if you go down better street. Every loss you’ve had, if you make the choice to go down the right road, God will make SURE you recover all your losses and get back everything that was stolen from you!

You’ll get your family back. Your joy back. Your relationships back. Your job back. Your destiny back. You’ll get it all back. Just for making a CHOICE to go down better road.

Let’s continue reading in 1 Samuel 3:7-8:

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”
“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”

And later we read how God restored David in 1 Samuel 3:17-19:

“David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.”

For every person who has a story to tell on bitter street, there’s another person who has the same exact story to tell on better street.

There’s somebody here who trusted someone and got burned. There’s somebody over there on better street who ALSO trusted someone and got burned.

Childhood abuse, parental abuse, sexual abuse, are common to all of us and what you have to understand is you simply cannot be on bitter road and better road at the same time.

YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE.

Beetoven was 46 when he went deaf. He wrote his best music after he went deaf.

Presiden Abraham Lincoln was a solider in the military who was demoted from a captain to a private. Later He became the 16th President of the United States.

Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basket ball team.

What if Abraham Lincoln said this isn’t fair, I’m not going to serve my country anymore. Let this country just go to hell in a hand basket.

What if Michael Jordan said I’m never playing basket ball again.

The good news is you can return to the intersection again and make a choice to go down better road instead.

Say this to yourself:

I HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE.

I’m going to get right back to that point and address my bitterness and I’m going to get into the Word of God and by the Grace of God I’m going to get out my roundup and I’m going to kill that bitter root in my heart. I’m going to make a different choice.
1 Samuel 3:7-8

I’m going to get a new outlook on life. I’m going to forgive those who hurt me. I’m going to stop thinking about how those people hurt me.

The further I go down better road the more I’m going to forgive those who hurt me and I’m going to get a right spirit and I’m going to get better and better and better!!!