Reason #407
"By His wounds you are healed." - 1 Peter 2:24
I made a long to-do list for today. I didn't really get any of the things on my list done, but the day wasn't a total loss either, as I did accomplish quite a bit. My afternoon took a little detour, thanks to Scout. I have a hard time getting things accomplished if my house is messy. It's hard for me to sit down and work on things when there is a mess somewhere. Maybe I am a little OCD, but we all have our things. And so this detour caused me to do a little extra work around the house that I wasn't planning on doing. I love when God meets me right in the middle of what I am doing. It's not a big, extravagant display of His presence. It's not even something expected. I wasn't, in that moment, calling out and looking for a response. I was just going about my business and God took the time to meet me right where I was and speak to me. In the quite, in the calm, but just when I needed it.
A song began to play over the radio and the words reminded me that we are healed by His wounds. I've written plenty of posts about wounds and healing, so obviously this is a subject I've thought about often. This is something I've learned a lot about, too. But I started to dwell on this truth again today. By His wounds we are healed. By His pain, His suffering, torture, and humiliation, I am healed. Because of brokeness, I am healed. Wounds that were inflicted by me were the very ones that healed me.
I am not a risk taker. I don't enjoy getting hurt or even the thought of getting hurt. I like to play it safe because then you don't have to worry about broken bones and stitches. When you play it safe, you don't have to face brokeness. You don't have to deal with pain or suffering. Playing it safe is the ideal tactic, in my opinion. But sometimes, things happen even when you are playing it safe. Then what? What happens when your safety was interrupted and that very place where you felt safe, invincible, is no longer your safe haven anymore?
Brokeness. Wounds. They are bound to happen at one point or another. And for a girl who likes to play it safe, these are extra scary things for me. They make my stomach turn. But what if the only way to heal you is to wound you? Think about it, all major surgeries create wounds. Skin must be cut open in order for repairs to be made. Those repairs can't be made unless there is a wound allowing access, and so it is necessary. But until you're tired of hurting, until you realize there is nothing you can do on your own to fix it, you can't be healed. And I think we're the same way. Some times, we have to be wounded in order to be healed. Because maybe we don't realize how desperately we need it until we come to a point where we just can't stand it anymore. We are tired of hurting, tired of being in pain, tired of the ache, tired of being broken and so we finally surrender and admit that we'll do whatever it takes to be whole again, to be fixed. And when we get to that point, usually a wound occurs so that we can finally be healed. Healed from the things that entangleus, the very things that are pulling us further away from Him.
Some wounds lead to death. Death of an old life style, poisonous relationships, an addiction, a desire to live for self. His wounds lead to His death. Precious life blood poured from those wounds to save us. He knew the risk and He took it. Broken, wounded, and beaten. But those wounds were necessary. Those wounds had a greater purpose than they pain He was momentarily experiencing. Those wounds were redeeming us, reconciling us, and making things right. That was the way it had to happen. But praise God for those wounds, because had they never occured, I'd be dead and without hope.
Physical wounds, emotional wounds, it really doesn't matter, they all hurt the same. But they are necessary, and sometimes it's just the way things have to happen. Wounds serve a purpose. And when we're wounded, He will heal. Healing may not come in the form we expected, and it may not come on this side of Heaven, but He will heal all wounds. And I'm grateful that He understands what they feel like. I'm grateful that He knows. And how incredible that God would do that for us. That He would take our pain, no matter how deep it is or how long it may seem to last, and use it to heal us. And what's more is that He would do that to Himself, yet do it for us. He didn't need to be healed. He didn't deserve any wounds. But He loves us that much to endure it anyway so that through His brokeness, we'd be made whole.
#407 - Because there isn't a wound that He can't heal.
"O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!" - Jeremiah 17:14