Jul
7
Help for hurting hearts
Filed by Becky Albrecht Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Wounds really hurt.
Wounds are sometimes physical, such as a broken bone or chronic joint pain.
Some wounds are wounds of the heart.
We may experience wounds of the heart because a loved one is far away (physically or emotionally), and is missed dearly, or because we have suffered great loss. We may also experience wounds of the heart when we are hurt by the actions or words of another.
The Bible reminds us that “Reckless words pierce like a sword…”
(Proverbs 12:18 niv)
The Bible also contains the poignant true story about friends, David and Jonathan. This story, found in the Old Testament book of I Samuel, tells of real hurt of the heart.
David was a faithful servant to King Saul. Saul’s son, Jonathan, and David became very close friends.
The Bible tells us: ”…Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself..”
(I Samuel 18:1 niv)
Sadly, it seemed to David that King Saul was becoming hostile toward him.
When David suspected King Saul’s antagonism and rejection of him, Jonathan made plans to find out if this were true, arranging for a signal between himself and David.
Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the LORD lives, you are safe; there is no danger. But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the LORD has sent you away.” (I Samuel 20:18-23 niv)
Jonathan discovered that the hostility of Saul was true.
We later read: ”Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David. In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, and he said to the boy, ‘Run and find the arrows I shoot.’ As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, ‘Isn’t the arrow beyond you?’” (I Samuel 20:34-36 niv)
This was the agreed upon signal between Jonathan and David.
”After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.” (I Samuel 20:41-42)
David and Jonathan each suffered great loss. Rejection and separation hurt intensely.
Denying the hurt will not make that hurt go away.
The writer of the Psalms seemed to know great pain when he wrote: ”I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.” (Psalm 6:6 niv)
Author Elisabeth Elliot reminds us that each of us is given a choice of what to do when wounded, no matter the cause. She writes:
”Living in a world broken by sin, we suffer wounds of many kinds. Perhaps the most painful are not the physical ones but those of the heart. No one has power to hurt us more deeply than somebody we love, somebody we counted on to understand and support us. But there are two ways to receive wounds. One leads to larger life. The other leads straight to death, that is to destruction–of those we influence as well as of ourselves.
”By grace we can receive the wounds of our friends as our Master received them–in the strength and for the glory of our heavenly Father. Being sinners ourselves, however, we need to be brought low at the cross.
”Nothing will do this better than some piercing heart-wound, provided we seek Christ because of it and pray Him to purify us.
”There is another way–the world’s way. It is anger, resentment, retaliation, retreat into pride and self-justification. These are quite natural, and quite lethal. The choice is ours.”
(Gateway to Joy)
When choosing to receive the wounds “as our Master received them–in the strength and for the glory of our heavenly Father” some thoughts from God’s Word may be helpful as they remind us that there really is a God, that He knows our every heartache, and that He is the healer of our hurts:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction…” (II Corinthians 1:3-4 nasb)
“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried…” (Isaiah 53:3-4 nasb)
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3 niv)
”Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126:5 niv)
”…God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:17 niv)
May you be comforted, and a comforter to others who are wounded.
