It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.
~A.W. Tozer
Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For He wounds, but He binds up; He shatters, but His hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.
~ Job, a wounded man, in Job 5
Oh beloved, it is True.
There is something that is most troubling in our walk with Him. And, it is something that we can easily miss, if we are not open to His Way. Early on, before our belief, we saw G_d has some sort of terrifying Being. This One stood over and against us in wrath, or so we thought.
However, as we caught the scent of His Presence. We were struck – not by a rod – but by the astounding goodness and kindness He was (and is, and will be). It was so intoxicating that our repentance was an act of joy. And, in changing our minds and coming to believe, we found Love Himself.
The wounding:
What we still did not know, was that Love (the real kind) has many faces as it needs to effect the good of the one upon whom Love Himself has set His heart.
There is still so much in us that must be made good. Not just positionally good. Not just imputed good. But, we are being made into the very Likeness of Christ. And this is where Love can get pretty tough.
In comes the first blow.
It. Is. Devastating.
It seems mystical but it really isn’t. The person we were before being made new in Christ is real. But, the truth is that this biological frame is completely unable to onboard the power, riches, strength, and honor that son of G_d must contain.
However, this old frame screams at us about its pain, and rights, and lusts. It keeps calling out to us to delay. It is like a drowning man grabbing for anything to keep himself afloat. And, it is relentless.
Can we see it?
In order enable us to contain – and give away – the infinite, the finite must be done away with:
Our lust must become a heart-desire for Joy.
Our fear must become a living well of full-hearted Courage.
Our anger must become a conduit of True Righteousness.
Our sin must become joyful obeisance to our King.
Our sight must become eternal vision.
Our thinking must learn to live in the torrent of Revelation.
Our emotions must yield to knowing the Mind and Heart of G_d.
And to do all of this? Jesus plays pretty rough with us. Like chemotherapy hunting down metastasized cancer cells, and nearly killing the host in its quest – Jesus does the same kind of thing to our inner man.
He uses loss, and suffering, and failure, and rejection, and despair as the instruments to knock the enormous “I” out of us. The wounds are deep. They are mortal. They hurt. A lot.
However, in crushing up the tiny little compartments inside of us, He begins an amazing healing work. He does not restore us to our tiny existence. Instead, He leaves the holes in place that they might serve as openings to a wide eternity wherein we can become the people – the Zoe – we were ever Designed to be.
It is only in our wounding that we can be healed to the degree that we need to be healed. Anything else is a bandaid. And it is painful. This kind of surgery must be done without anesthetic. The healing power of the operation is the pain itself. However again, when we are healed, He does indeed begin to pour the very riches of Heaven into us, and through us.
That we might give it all away… Only to be filled ever more deeply and fully.
So, do you feel like G_d may be knocking you around a bit? Good. It looks like some very wonderful stuff is about to happen in your life. Tonight is your night. Time to lay still – and let Him wound you.
Thornton Wilder’s one-act play “The Angel That Troubled the Waters,” based on John 5:1-4, dramatizes the power of the pool of Bethesda to heal whenever an angel stirred its waters. A physician comes periodically to the pool hoping to be the first in line and longing to be healed of his melancholy. The angel finally appears but blocks the physician just as he is ready to step into the water. The angel tells the physician to draw back, for this moment is not for him. The physician pleads for help in a broken voice, but the angel insists that healing is not intended for him. The dialogue continues—and then comes the prophetic word from the angel: “Without your wounds where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In Love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve. Physician, draw back.” Later, the man who enters the pool first and is healed rejoices in his good fortune and turning to the physician says: “Please come with me. It is only an hour to my home. My son is lost in dark thoughts. I do not understand him and only you have ever lifted his mood. Only an hour.… There is also my daughter: since her child died, she sits in the shadow. She will not listen to us but she will listen to you.” Christians who remain in hiding continue to live the lie. We deny the reality of our sin. In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others. We cling to our bad feelings and beat ourselves with the past when what we should do is let go. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, guilt is an idol. But when we dare to live as forgiven men and women, we join the wounded healers and draw closer to Jesus.”
― Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging
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