Binding Wounds
Read: Luke 14:25-35
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Most weeks when I write these, I try my best to begin turning our thoughts to the passage of the week. This week for various reasons my thoughts have been in another place.
For the past several months I have been reading a little devotional book called “Fighting Words” by Ellie Holcomb. To be one hundred percent honest I have no idea how this book came to live on my shelf. So if you are reading this and gave it to me — Thank You! If you gave it to me to borrow and I claimed it — sorry.
The book’s premise is that the promises of God are words and truths we can use to fight the lies of the enemy, as well as fight to stand and persevere in this life that we live. Every night I pull out this book, read a verse or two, read her thoughts on the passage, and then think on the questions posed. It is a good practice at the end of the day and helps me to put in focus the day I’m ending and the one that is coming.
This week my heart has stayed heavy as we have watched the news and heard the stories of the devastation of so many homes, businesses, and lives. And I feel the need for God’s promises. I feel the need to have words that fight against the hopelessness that could easily take over. Words that say the truth is God is present, near, hurting, and desiring to heal the brokenhearted. Verses like these:
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Isaiah 53:4
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3
When I think on these two verses, I think on the closeness of the relationship of our God to His people. He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We would be crushed under the weight of the pain if God did not lift it off of us. But it doesn’t say that He flicks it away, and neither us nor He has to feel the effects of the heartache. No He bears it, He carries it. He takes it on His back, He brings relief. He takes the weight of sin and shame and the weight of being God’s enemy, and He takes our day in and day out sorrows as well. We can trust Him with them, for He is trustworthy.
Then there is the binding up our wounds. You cannot bind someone’s wounds from afar. This past week I wedged a piece of glass in my foot. Our son was helping me clean and tend to the wound. He didn’t do it from across the room. He was there with me in the mess.
God enters into the situation we are in. He does not ask us to get ourselves out of it and then He will help. No, He draws close. He takes us into His care. He brings what is needed to bind the wounds. He offers His Son to help bear our grief and sorrow. He tends to the wound. For our Father hurts with the hurting and He mends the broken.
I don’t know how many of you sitting in this congregation have been personally impacted by the events of the past week, but our prayers are with you. Our hearts hurt for you, and we know that Christ has and will bear the heartache with you. That God will come close to bind the wounds of the brokenhearted.
Then there are those of us who don’t have people we personally know going through the devastation but it is still heartbreaking. My family vacationed at Lake Lure, and we shopped at Chimney Rock which is now gone. My son loves the Black Mountain and my husband was explaining to him how much of it is now no more. These places are places of memory and sweet family times for us.
So we cling to fighting words. Words that will help us get through the moment. Truth that our God sees, and hears, and responds to the hurting.
Thank you for these truths Heavenly Father, and we ask that you root them into our hearts and minds.
