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I want to share with you some more great numbers to call when life throws you a curve. As I mentioned last time, to go out unprepared in severe winter weather, or life, is to invite disaster. The journey we call life and death requires a person to have things in order, if it is to be satisfying and successful. The Bible has some emergency numbers that are the best resource to turn to when you encounter difficulties on your journey. Here are several more to add to your phone book of life.

Over the years I have worked with, ministered to and befriended people who were as bitter as over-cooked, four-day-old coffee! You know the type, maybe it’s you? Bitterness is a life and joy killing attitude, and it often comes down to how people have hurt and disappointed us. A friend betrays us, a spouse leaves, children turn their backs on us, you don’t get the promotion. The hurt is so intense we turn inward, and venom flows through our thoughts and life like chemotherapy flows into our bodies destroying both the good and the bad.

I believe the antidote to bitterness is love. To love others as the Lord loves us means bitterness will not have place in our hearts. Look at 1 Corinthians 13, the great love chapter of the Bible. Verses 4-8a, 13 say, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Add John 3:16 to this and you see God loves us all so much He sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world.

Yes the answer to bitterness is to know Christ as Lord and Savior, and forgive those who wrong you.

Maybe your past mistakes haunt you. You have done the unspeakable. You served in combat and the killing you did, or saw has turned your thought life into a graveyard. Our actions and inactions that result in harm to others can destroy us. Yes, the sins we are involved in bring guilt and pain to us. Psalm 51 is a great number to call upon when you know you need forgiveness. Verses 1-10 tell us, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

If life has you discouraged right now, Psalm 34 will encourage you. If you feel like hope is a distant friend read Psalm 139. Do you need a healing touch, Psalm 41 is good medicine. John 14 will lift a sad heart.

Thanks to Andrea for list of “Bible Emergency Numbers” that are the basis for the past two “Musings”! Well, I have more to share but that will have to come in the next Mountaintop Musing! Until then thanks for reading and stay warm! Read Romans 10: 9-13, and then call for help!

Dave Carroll is an area missionary with InFaith, America’s oldest Christian home mission agency. He is also pastor of the Wolf Creek Baptist Church. You can contact Dave at 406.459.8935 or davecarroll@infaith.org