Tuesday, December 11, 2018

SAYING "OUCH" IS NOT A SIN

A friend of mine recently went through a harrowing couple of weeks when her adult son needed emergency heart surgery.  The surgery went well.  Surgeons were pleased.  End of story? Nope. A week or two after the surgery he was rushed back to the hospital. The doctors determined that he had an infection as a result of the surgery.  They gave him medicine.  He was allergic to the medicine.   So many people were praying. God intervened and he is healing and doing well.

Nice story. 
So what does it have to do with you? With me?

The story begins because someone had a "broken heart" and knew he needed help.
How did he know?
He felt the pain.  

What if someone had convinced this young man that nobody cared about his pain? 
What if he felt like he would be bothering the surgeons with his pain? 
What if he was embarrassed that something was wrong with him? 
What if someone had convinced him that saying "ouch" was wrong?
How sad the end of this story would have been.

Saying "ouch" is not a sin.  Even if you love and follow Jesus, things come our way that HURT. That WOUND.  That robs the BREATH from our lungs and depletes every TEAR we have.  

Who told us we had to be robotic spiritual soldiers?   
Not God. Never God. 

I can go to my Father in heaven, with my tears, with my broken heart, with my confusion and simply say, "This hurts. This REALLY, REALLY hurts."  Or... with a covered over wound... and admit to Him, "When that happened, Father, it really really hurt me. It wounded me. They wounded me."

I am not sitting in judgment. 
I am not asking for vengeance.
I. Am. In. Pain.  

I am a child, with a wound, showing it to my Father because I know He cares about it.  He cares when someone hurts me. He cares when someone rejects me. He cares when I am afraid. He cares when my own sinfulness has brought me pain.   He cares. He cares. He cares. He does. 

Are you in pain?  Did you bring it on yourself? Bring the pain to God.
Are you in pain? Did someone else cause it? Bring the pain to God.

I am writing here about saying "Ouch" to a Father who loves you.  At some point in time, He will heal what needs to be healed, He will cleanse whatever infection has gotten in and around our hearts because of the wound, and His love is the only medicine that will heal.  All other medicine will not heal a broken heart.  

Read that again: His love is the only medicine that will truly heal us.  We were never meant to get through life with bandages on a broken heart. He wants to give us NEW and HEALED and WHOLE hearts. 

Only the Great Physician can heal our destroyed hearts.  And only when we humble ourselves enough to admit how broken we really are.  Because we really are very, very broken. Most of us? No. All of us. 
Today... say this and believe this:

"He. Cares. About. My. Pain."

In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears.2 Samuel 22:7


  


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