Hurt & Pain
How to Deal with It • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
Good morning church fam!
It is good to be back in the house of the Lord.
This past week I experienced something that I have never experienced the 20 plus years of ministry.
As most of you know, one of our own, Dave Talley took his final breath in this life. While many may think death is the end, for those like Dave who knew Jesus, death is just the beginning. It is the beginning of life eternal with Christ.
3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
On Thursday morning, Jesus came for brother Dave and took him to his final place of residence.
Shortly after Carly finished singing Amazing Grace, Dave took his final breath. That was a first for me. I have never been in the same room when someone past from this life to the next.
It is something that has impacted me for life.
I got to thinking about this and many people in life go through hurt and pain.
In life there is no guarantee of not facing problems, sickness, death, or anything else that causes pain or hurt. Life is not simply pain free.
Charles Spurgeon said to:
Depend upon it, there is no pain in dying. The pain is in living.
Charles Spurgeon
The question is, as Christians, as followers of Christ, what do we do when we are faced with hurt and pain?
That’s what we are are going to dive into today.
By a show of hands, how many of you here this morning have been hurt or experienced pain in the last thirty days? If you are online, tell us in the comments.
I want you to know that you are exactly where God wants you this morning. He has something to say about the hurt and the pain in your life.
Dealing with hurt and pain is one of the most challenging aspects of life, but the Scriptures provide guidance on how to navigate these emotions in a way that honors God and leads to healing.
Acknowledge it before God
Acknowledge it before God
The very first step is to acknowledge your pain/hurt before God.
Too often we do not. Too often when we go through pain we never acknowledge it before the one who created us and gave us the ability to feel.
I am learning to first seek God and acknowledging my pain and hurt to Him before anyone else. Too often I think we tell everyone else about our pain…especially if we have been hurt, and we don’t take it to God.
We are missing out if we do not practice this.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Too often when we experience a hurt or we are faced with pain we tend to hide our emotions. Some people run to the bottle and try to drown out their pain. Some turn to drugs and try to fly high above or sink below their pain.
But not everyone goes to a bottle, and not everyone goes to drugs, some bury themselves in their work, some isolate themselves by taking off and never to return, others mask their pain by putting on a happy face while deep inside they are full of pain.
When faced with suffering there is that temptation to hide our emotions. Sometimes we simply don’t want to burden others with our pain, and so we hide.
Running from pain never brings life.
Jesus tells us that He came to bring us life. If Jesus brings life, what brings death?
10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
The thief wants to rob, steal, kill, and destroy you. The way he does this is getting us to believe we cannot bring our emotions, our hurt/pain, to God.
The act of acknowledging our pain is not just about admitting that we are hurting to God (He already knows it);
it's about inviting God into our hurt.
God desires us to bring our hurt and our pain to Him. He is waiting for us to invite Him into our pain. God encourages us to bring our brokenness to Him.
Why? So He can be near us at the most crucial parts of our life. When we invite God into our pain we are allowing Him the right and authority to speak into our pain. It is only then can we experience healing .
The Word tells us He is near the broken hearted.
This proximity of God in our pain allows us to experience His comfort and healing.
3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
I think we tend to lean towards God just healing people physically more so than emotionally.
Healing from God is not just a physical healing when we are sick. But it also includes emotional healing when we were done wrong. Or when we suffered the loss of a loved one.
The act of bringing our pain to God is an act of trust—it’s recognizing that we cannot heal ourselves and that we need His divine intervention.
How many of you have been told, “Time heals all wounds”?
As Christians we need to understand that time doesn’t heal all wounds. The phrase “time heals all wounds” is worldly thinking. It is worldly philosophy.
Time may promote healing, but how many years have gone by and you are still feeling the hurt, pain, and suffering from a particular situation or the loss of a loved one?
Time doesn’t heal all wounds, but God does. His Word says He will HEAL the brokenhearted. Heal means just that heal.
But what about the binding of wounds? I find this interesting and it leads to my next point.
Bind - to govern, to restrain
God’s Perspective
God’s Perspective
God binds our wounds, He governs them. When we are emotionally wounded, God governs our emotions.
God governs our emotions by transforming the way we think, feel, and respond through His presence, guidance, and truth.
Going to God with my hurts and pain allows me to gain God’s perspective.
This acknowledgment is the beginning of true healing, as it opens the door for God to minister to us in our deepest places of hurt. It allows God to tell us what His thoughts are. It allows God to speak into our hurt and pain.
As I said a moment ago, it gives God the authority to speak to our pain. When we allow God the authority to speak to our hurt/pain, it is an act of surrender, and it allows Him to have authority over that emotion. It allows us to hear what God’s will is as it pertains to that emotion.
We know that God has a will for our lives, but that also includes how we handle our emotions.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Looking at bringing our pain before God and gaining His perspective gives me a deeper understanding of Romans 12:2.
Typically we use this Scripture to preach against sin and telling people to change the way they think in order to change the way they live. While that is applicable, this also applies to gaining God’s perspective on what is causing pain in our life.
Read that again as it pertains to your hurt or pain.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
This is so important to bring our emotions before God. I have learned this a lot over the past six years. In all my ministry, this has never been taught to me. When I went through Bible college, this was not taught to me.
I think we can experience more emotional healing in our world if we learn to take our emotions to God.
Why is this important?
Your hurt and pain can distort your view of reality, leading you to make decisions based on emotions rather than truth.
Let me give you this example. Say someone says something to you that hurt you. You can’t believe that someone who loves God would ever do something like that.
You never bring it before God. You withdraw from that person.
Now everything they say or do you are viewing through the lens of that hurt. You even go back to past text messages or posts and you are now judging if they even truly valued your friendship. Every conversation you have with someone else, even if they are speaking highly of this person, you are viewing through the lens of hurt and you begin to tear down that person to other people.
In reality, your friend’s betrayal, while painful, may not necessarily define their entire character or the entire friendship. People make mistakes, and while betrayal is serious, it doesn’t always mean that the person is beyond redemption or that the relationship can’t be salvaged.
The truth is that, with time, forgiveness, and open communication, some friendships can heal and even become stronger.
If you bring God’s perspective into it, you will find exactly what you should do. Remember Romans 12:2 - do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you will prove ( or know) what the will of God is.
What is God’s will in this situation?
12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
You can’t forgive as God forgave you if you do not get His perspective and healing will never truly take place.
So, you can see why how it is crucial to bring our emotions (all of them) before God and get His perspective so you can know what the will of God is.
We are not created to be led by our emotions, but we are called to be led by truth. His blood speaks better things.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Emotions don’t set you free. Only truth. This is where our flesh struggles. It is easy to just allow our emotions to take hold of us and control us.
Even the world will encourage you to revenge or bitterness, but God’s Word calls us to forgiveness and love.
Where our pain might lead us to self-pity or despair, God’s perspective reminds us of His sovereignty and the hope we have in Him.
Seeking God’s perspective is about aligning our thoughts and attitudes with His. It requires us to pause, pray, and listen for His voice before reacting to our pain.
As we do this, we are better equipped to judge situations rightly, not through the lens of our hurt, but through the lens of God’s truth. His blood speaks better things.
