Bitterness is a complex emotion because it is a mix of anger and sadness that is linked to disappointment, or the experience of having been disappointed as a pattern of behavior over time (Seth Meyers, 2019) . Hence, bitterness is associated with resentment, which differentiates it from sorrow.
On the other hand, Ronald Pies (2008) reports two levels of sorrow using the Scripture: clinical depression and”normal” sadness or sorrow. First, the depressive experience of David: “There is no soundness in my flesh…no no health in my bones because of my sin…my wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostate; all the day I go about mourning…I groan because of the tumult of my heart” (Psalm 38). Second, the bereavement related to “‘The Lament of the Bow’ (2 Samuel 1:17-27), addressed to his lost friend: ‘How have the mighty fallen…I grieve for you, my brotherJonathan, you were most dear to me…’ There is no trace, in David’s lament, of the self-loathing and bodily decay found in Psalm 38.” Pies points out that”‘there are two kinds of sorrow… When a man broods over the misfortunes that have come upon him… [and] cowers in a corner and despairs of help–that is a bad kind of sorrow…’ In contrast, ‘…the other kind is the honest grief of a man who knows what he lacks.'” Furthermore, there is a possibility of experiencing sorrow with joy and not bitterness with joy(Vaneetha Rendall Risner, 2021).
CALISCO invites you to share this insight with those whose well-being you care about . Let us help those around us accept their sorrows with joy as a way of avoiding bitterness.