Wounded?

"Time heals all wounds," the cliche goes, and I couldn't disagree more.  This assumes all wounds can be healed.  In fact, time has no ability to heal in itself.  Our bodies have been designed to repair themselves over time, but time has no magical qualities in itself to heal.  It amazes me how often cliches and proverbs are casually said without thought of their veracity.  Take the slogan, "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas."  It is ironic Las Vegas is called "Sin City" and the last part of Numbers 32:23 says, "...be sure your sin will find you out."  I'll save this for another time!  Back to wounds, it is not only the elderly that struggle with unhealing wounds:  children, singles, parents, and grandparents have the potential to carry not only physical wounds, but emotional wounds that no amount of time could possibly heal.

Wounds are more than baggage.  No medicinal treatment, herbal remedy, or surgeon's scalpel has the power to remove the rot from a wounded soul.  I've been watching a documentary recently about WWII and a medic shared a difficult fact.  He spoke about having to make tough decisions on the field of battle involving life and death.  If a medic came upon a group of men during a battle who were seriously wounded, he would intentionally not treat soldiers who had likely suffered a mortal wound.  Morphine and supplies were too valuable to use on a man who would die following treatment.  A medic would need to survey the extent of the injury quickly, then decide who he would treat.  The treatment of minor injuries would be delayed for the serious ones, and the most serious would be avoided.  Thinking back over the interview, the medic never once claimed to have healed anyone.  He supplied treatment so the God-designed natural healing process could begin.

If we'd be honest, we tend to treat our physical wounds more thoroughly than our emotional or spiritual wounds.  We employ what I like to call John Wayne tactics.  When actor John Wayne is shot through an arm or leg, he ties a kerchief over the wound and keeps on fighting.  He might pour some whiskey over the spot and take a tug off the bottle.  But if someone asks about the injury, ol' John Wayne gruffly brushes it off as "nothing."  When it comes to inner hurt, we tend to try to ignore the pain rather seeking treatment.  Another extreme is to be so preoccupied with our wounds that we withdraw from those who could help.  We are convinced that no one has ever hurt this bad, no one could possibly understand, and we are far beyond healing.  Our wounds become our closest companions and the pain overwhelms us.  As Job said to his "friends," what miserable companions our wounds are!

It's true no one in the world has lived your life, and no one walking the earth today knows exactly the pain you've experienced.  Sometimes we disqualify others from speaking to us on the matter because they have not shared our exact history.  But let's say someone has suffered exactly like you.  Are they capable of healing you?  NO!  But there is someone who has suffered more than we could ever imagine, and nothing is too hard for Him.  His name is Jesus Christ, the Healer.  He does not offer treatment.  He supplies the cure.  He has the power to heal physically, and is willing and able to heal your soul!  Jesus healed lepers, cast out demons, made the paralyzed to walk, the blind to see, and raised the dead to life.  Your wounds are severe, and you must willingly expose them for Christ to heal.  Just like a doctor cannot examine an unwilling person who refuses to be a patient, Jesus will not force you to cry out to Him for healing.  But He is patient, longsuffering, merciful, gentle, loving, and kind.  He will not minimize your suffering.  He won't say, "That's nothing."  He knows too well the pain of rejection, harsh words, physical abuse, torture, and being utterly forsaken.

Which is more painful?  To have a bullet pass through the gut or to watch helplessly as the medic passes you by because your wound is too severe?  No wound is beyond the loving care provided by Jesus Christ to all who trust in Him.  Like the Good Samaritan stopped and helped the wounded traveler, Jesus Christ will never pass you by.  He will leave the 99 sheep to find the one who is lost.  The words of Isaiah 53:5 are for us today:  "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."  God is eternal, operating outside of time.  Time doesn't heal:  God does.