This is not an easy subject to write about…but a necessary one.
Being 54, I wish I could say I had never experienced this but I have. The subject matter for today? Being wounded or insulted not by an enemy, but by a friend, a loved one or someone you would never suspect. The first thing I would like to say is–we are probably all guilty of this experience. We have all been the “wounder!”….sometimes unknowingly. I know I am guilty.
Being on the end of being wounded makes me never want to be the “wounder!” Let’s read the words of David, who was wounded, found in Psalm 55;12-14, ”If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it, if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.”
As you can see, David was wounded by a fellow believer! If you read on in Psalm 55, he pours out his heart to God and you can tell he is distraught. This is his prayer, “Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the realm of the dead, for evil finds lodging among them. As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. HE rescues me UNHARMED from the battle waged against me, even those many oppose me. God, who is enthroned from of old, who does NOT CHANGE—-he will hear them and humble them because they have no fear of God” [emphasis mine].
There is so much we can learn from David. As long as there is sin in the world…we have the chance to wound or be wounded. Hopefully, as we grow in our faith, we will mature and not be the “wounder.”
But if wounded…just know…It is okay to pour out your heart to God. The most wounded I have ever been is by someone I would have never suspected, someone who I thought knew me and my heart but instead chose to think differently, act differently and speak differently.
The first thing I/we can learn from David…is where to take our hurt. To the throne of God! He is the source. We also learn to go to Him morning, noon and all day every day if we need to! Third, we can be assured that God sees, God hears and when a “wounder” is in the wrong and has no fear of God, at some point, God will humble them.
Further down in Psalm 55 verse 22 David writes, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” And, at the end of the Psalm he makes a bold statement, “But as for me, I trust in you!”
Trusting God with your wounds is the absolute best thing you can do.
For it is God and God alone that can see the “HEART”…our heart and that of our wounder! That is so encouraging to me. If we know that God sees all and HE is a just God, then WE CAN TRUST HIM…..
WE don’t get to tell God how and when to convict or expose or defend…but we can TRUST that He will.
Personally, without exposing too much, I was wounded over four years ago. I knew my heart and I knew that God knew my heart. I also knew the “wrong” but the position I chose to take was one I learned from David. I prayed day and night and returned to the “throne” often with the burden and the pain. I was never certain of when God would move and after several years, at times, I even asked God, ”Lord, how long?”
After four long years….God exposed the wrong…in His time and in His way. I had absolutely nothing to do with the “exposing” except I knew how much and how long I had prayed. At the time, when God moved and exposed, it was not what I thought. Meaning, how I would respond. I was sad for the other person. It was very hard to watch the events as they unfolded.
I learned so much from that experience. I learned the correct place to go to was to God. I learned patience and persistence in prayer. I gained much trust in God, learning His timing and His way is w-a-y better than anything I could conceive. I also learned that the prayer time prepared my heart to not rejoice when my “frienemy” was humbled.
Point of post: guard your heart daily so as NOT TO BE A WOUNDER.
God does see. He does judge hearts and HE WILL EXPOSE. If you are the wounded, YOU HAVE to trust God. You have to go to God and allow HIM TO BE YOUR SOURCE. It may take weeks, months, years or a lifetime. Sometimes, like Jesus who died unfairly on the cross, on this side of heaven, you may not see the “exposing” but God is a God who loves a “pure heart.” He is the one who sees hearts and judges hearts and ultimately YOU can trust Him with yours!