Be Healed

Broken

Injury playing soccer

I got hurt, kept trying to go out there and play. Tried harder and still didn’t work. Never addressed it. Got even more hurt.

Needed to stop and recognize I was in pain and injured so I could get healed.

I sense a lot of us injured. A lot of us have wounds or gone through trauma and were still going out there trying harder and pushing through without addressing what’s wrong.

Many of us are in pain. So it impacts how we view the world.

Many of us have gone through trauma. So it impacts the decisions we make.

Many of us are hurt and that effects how we live out our faith each day.

We try harder. Doesn’t work. We ignore it. Doesn’t work.

I didn’t get fully healed until i realized i was injured, and took time to get better. It was hard to play while being hurt.

It’s hard to walk by faith when we have wounds that need to be Healed.

If we want to stop falling over, if we want to stop hurting. Let us turn our eyes to the one that can truly make us whole, and restore us.

That’s what we are going to talk about the next couple of weeks. The importance of knowing and going to a God that can heal us.

Acknowledge the pain

If we are wounded. If we have an injury. We must address it. We have to go get restored and allow ourselves to be Healed. The truth is we all do in some way. Here a few examples.

We have relational brokenness. We’ve experienced a father walkout of the house. We’ve had a friend stab us in the back. We’ve had someone cheat on us. Those create wounds we have to address.

We have sexual brokenness. We were never taught what sex is in a healthy biblical way. We experienced abuse. We were addicted to pornography. We were in an unhealthy relationship ourself.

We have identity brokenness. We were told my job is who I am. We were told we weren’t good enough. How we look has led to mockery by others. Which brought us to not liking who we are.

These are all possible ways we have been hurt and for a lot of us we never really took time to recover. We never went anywhere or to anyone to help us with what took place. Most of us don’t even really tell anyone.

Which is a serious problem. I think a lot of us think we can solve these things on our own in ways that don’t work.

Some lies i want to address when it comes to wounds.

Time doesn’t solve wounds. Just because a certain amount of time has passed, doesn’t mean everythings good now. That’s not how it works.

Forgetting doesn’t fix wounds. Oh well i just don’t think about it anymore. As much as we would like to believe that, just because you forgot something doesn’t mean it doesn’t impact you still. a majority of decisions you are making today are because of the wound you have that you never addressed.

Escapism doesn’t heal wounds. A lot of us escape to leave our reality. We run to tv, music, relationships, alcohol, you name it. The thing is you can run all you want but that wound is going anywhere other than with you.

We have to take the time to recognize and address our wounds. Realize we are in pain!

We are going to read a popular psalm tonight that deals with sheep and a shepherd.

For a sheep to run around injured would lead to death. Would be too slow to keep up with the pack and might get lost. If an animal chased it down to attack no way it would out run it. A healthy sheep is already dumb so add injured to it and what do you get?

We need to be healed. Where are we going to be healed? Are we going anywhere at all? It is horrible for us to run around with these potential things happening to us and getting hurt and never taking time to fix them.

The Lord is my shepherd

Let’s read Psalm 23:1-3.

Can we read that again? We need this.

If you are sheep, the shepherd takes care of you. Are we letting him?

We have a lot of needs that we are filling with wants. And it’s not working.

I shall not want. Imagine what we would be like if this were true? I’d have more money. I’d be more secure of who I am. I’d make healthier decisions in my life.

I want to not want! This is such an overlooked part of the passage, it doesn’t sound as nice as green pastures and restoring and water.

Our wounds are craving something. And boy do we try to put all sorts of stuff on them. We want this and this this.

Yet none of it is what we need.

If i shall not want that means I have all I need. That sounds so nice.

Like they say, don’t go to the grocery store when you are hungry. So many of us are going out in the world hungry, starving. Look what happens.

You know how we come to a point where we aren’t in need? When the shepherd leads us to where we need to be.

What I feel hear when I read verse 2 and 3 is peace. Walking and lying down by green pastures and still waters. Restoring my soul. That sounds like I am at peace, that sounds like something those of us with wounds need.

I want my wounds to be healed and at peace. Not screaming at me in pain or impacting every wrong decision I make. I don’t want to do anything when I’m like this. Allow Him to lead you besides still waters and green pastures.

He’s providing for us here. The food we need, the water we need, the restoring that we need. All from the shepherd. It’s all dependent on Him to get us there, we just need to follow him.

I love how the word Leads is in here a few times. Are we letting him lead us? He will take you where you need to be. He will take care of you for what your needs are. He will provide for you if he is leading you.

Are you truly living under the Lordship of Jesus as your shepherd?

The most compassionate and loving being to ever step on this earth has bought you with a price. Are you living under the Lordship of Jesus as your shepherd?

You are with me

Let’s read Psalm 23:4-6

How many of you have walked through the valley of the shadow of death?

It’s a tough place to be. I’m sure we’ve all experienced hardship, persecution, challenges at some level. Varying from person to person but still have gone through something.

But how many of us can say I fear no evil when we are walking through that? That sounds far off and maybe not attainable for a lot of us. This place is dark. The people here are horrible. I’m not strong enough. You don’t know what these people say whatever it may be.

I had an interesting realization today when it comes to wounds and walking through the valley of shadow of death.

A lot of us have experienced verbal wounds. By a parent, a sibling, a friend, an enemy, a stranger. All of the above!

Here is what I found intriguing. Most of us care DEEPLY about our exterior. How we look. Our physical self. I would guess a majority of CARE we put into ourself is for our exterior. Clothes. Makeup. Fitness. Face routine. Mirrors.

Versus how much time do we take to care for our inside? Our soul. Probably very little.

Jesus had some words for people like this. Matthew 23:27-28.

We aren’t far off from them.

But here’s the interesting part, hang with me I am getting to how this is related.

If someone came up to you and said you were fat, or had a big nose. That would crush you. You wouldn’t fight it or talk back. It would eat you live. A comment about the exerior.

If someone came up to you and said, you gossip too much or you are arrogant. More often than not I think we would defend ourselves. Argue and move on as if they don’t know what they are talking about.

How interesting is this? People comment exterior. We care so much! People comment on interior. We defend and move on.

Here’s my point. We aren’t taking time to look at our soul, we aren’t showing any interest in caring for who we are.

The time comparison alone would prove this point of how much time we obsess over our exterior versus interior.

Our souls need care. Our souls need healing. Our souls have gone though the valley of the shadow of death and we hope we look good going through it.

Here’s what I pictured this morning thinking about this.

For you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.

We can walk with Jesus, we can walk with our Shepherd.

Imagine you choose to follow Jesus and you are walking with Him. Someone comes up to you and says something.

You can turn to the shepherd and say, is that true?

Someone comes up and invites you over Friday night to do some things.

You turn to Jesus, hey Jesus, you think I should go?

Someone comes up and tries to hurt you, Jesus is right there.

Here we see something very important when it comes to healing. Some of us may just want to feel better, be comfortable. Which i don’t think should be our ultimate aim. Our priority is to be in relationship with Jesus so we can know and be like him, it is in there that we experience true healing and wholeness and a healthier soul.

That’s why I love picturing this walking beside our shepherd, our savior. Constant communication, healing, relationship.

Then goodness, mercy shall follow me all the days of my life as I dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In his presence is my desire. Because that is where I will be healed.

As we head out of here a few things i want to mention.

One, I believe the church is vital for people that have wounds. We are not to live in isolation or secrecy. Our wounds should not be covered up in shame or guilt. We talked a lot the other Sunday about the importance of the community here and how we are called to comfort one another. Share with one another and find comfort in that.

Two, I also believe that the Lord can use professionals to speak truth and healing into your life. Counseling is not shameful or for the weak. We have multiple leaders that have benefitted greatly from counseling and I am sure some of you have gone through that as well. Our church has a great partnership with a counseling group we’d love to connect you with. Such a blessing to have this.

Lastly, be open and vulnerable with the Lord. Speak and Listen. Sit in his presence each day and just turn to him and ask away.

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