Bitter people are the saddest people in the world: they make themselves miserable and, for a time, everyone around them as well. Bitterness is a persistent sourness of spirit that sees every defect and never the good, and it grows by nursing grievances, real or imagined, and dwelling on them while Satan feeds it. Even grievous losses, such as the death of a spouse or child, do not excuse bitterness, though overcoming it is easier said than done. Bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit, Christ, and the Father, and it springs from an unwillingness to forgive. It also gives rise to wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice, which destroy a person mentally and spiritually. A society that rejects God's truth and builds its own immoral rules suffers depression, misery, mental disorders, and insanity at an alarming rate. The remedy is not mere moral effort or prayer for removal, but putting these evils away and deliberately cultivating kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness, so that the new life pushes out the old, as new shoots push off dead leaves. Becoming tenderhearted and concerned for others' troubles also relieves depression, because turning the mind to someone else takes it off one's own troubles. Forgiveness rests on the fact that God in Christ has already forgiven us.

Misery calls forth mercy, which is love expressed toward the miserable and includes both the kindly feeling and the kindly act. A person may be miserable because of life's circumstances and suffering, or because of the way he treats the one who shows mercy. The Good Samaritan answers the first kind of misery: he felt compassion for the wounded man, then bandaged him, carried him to an inn, and paid for his care. Many are moved to make some small sacrifice toward relieving another's misery but never follow through. Jesus answers the second kind: though men treated Him miserably and murdered Him, He looked inside them, considered why they acted as they did, and died for them, praying, "Father, forgive them." God does not insulate Himself from the world's misery. In Jesus Christ He got inside men's skin, suffered and was tempted, and so can sympathize with human weakness and aid those who suffer. By contrast, the worldly and ungrateful insulate themselves from others' pains because they are focused on their own perceived miseries. Self-centeredness leaves no room for compassion, and it fuels division and divorce. Those who have received God's forgiveness are moved to meet the needs of the miserable, and God returns mercy to the merciful.

Misery and wretchedness are fruits of sin. Under the righteous government of God, everyone who is miserable deserves to be miserable, because he is a sinner, and every sinner has earned death and deserves to be miserable before he dies. This does not mean a person is always miserable, but he deserves to be. Justice demands that each receive his legitimate due and bestows no favors, whereas mercy is the attribute of God by which He relieves those who are wretched. Mercy is not a right to which anyone is entitled, so to speak of deserving mercy is a contradiction in terms. Mercy is needed precisely when one is miserable and wretched. God bestows it on whom He pleases, not on those who volunteer, because it seems good to Him. He gave it to Paul and extends it even to those He might consider enemies. He does not use it uniformly: He denied Moses entrance to the Promised Land yet extended the life of Hezekiah, and at Bethesda Christ relieved the wretchedness of one man who had been infirm for thirty-eight years, though that man had no qualification and made no appeal, and left the rest of the crowd. Before calling, people are children of wrath under Satan's sway, headed for execution, yet God in His mercy makes them alive in Christ. Believers must trust His character, which is always loving and righteous, even when His dealings are mystifying.

Misery arises when people suffer either because they have broken God's law or because of circumstances beyond their control. God addresses this condition through mercy, the aspect of His love that prompts active help for the miserable rather than the mere withholding of deserved punishment. Such mercy extends beyond suspended judgment to include tangible relief, as seen especially in the life of Jesus Christ, who healed the blind, cleansed lepers, and restored those afflicted by sin and need. Mercy is defined as aid given to someone who is miserable or needy, especially one in debt or without any claim to favorable treatment, and in a broader sense it means helping those who cannot help themselves. This response flows from compassion and is to be practiced with cheerfulness, not criticism or superiority, so that the offender or sufferer is lifted rather than further demeaned. The same mercy that God shows the miserable becomes the standard for human conduct, requiring believers to love enemies, lend without expectation of return, and forgive without demanding repayment. In this way mercy connects directly to justice by tempering it with compassion, fulfills the royal law of loving one's neighbor, and ensures that those who show mercy will themselves receive mercy when they stand before God.