Hurt Hoarding - Jesus Heals the Broken
Have you ever seen the television program, "Hoarders"? It shows some of the most extreme cases of people who are driven to fill their physical space. Often their house is stuffed from floor to ceiling with stuff. It is heartbreaking to see the complete dysfunction of these individuals who are buried in junk. In the course of the show, when they get to the bottom of their condition, we find that their hoarding was often triggered by a wound in their soul that was never healed. Hoarding is their way of covering the pain.
While this example is extreme, we find that many people do the same thing in their soul. We collect hurts and stuff them in our souls. Some we may pull out and examine from time to time. Others get buried under the newest additions. Rejection, bitterness, hurts, and offenses pile up until we are buried in our own toxic waste. Frequently, the root cause is a hurt that was never healed. The Lord wants to come in and cleanse the festering stuff. Only Jesus can come in with His living presence and heal that broken place.
Jesus Heals the Soul
When our daughter Anna was working on a paper for her Master's degree, she needed to do some research on different aspects of her family roots. She called us one day with some questions about our family history.
Anna and I started talking about what happened to each of my siblings, and it brought something to mind that was very painful for me. My father died when I was five years old. My brother was eighteen, and stepped in to take responsibility for the family. He never married; He looked after my mom and all of us and was very much like a father to me.
Several years ago, my brother was very sick with cancer. I was just about to leave for an outreach in Taiwan when I learned that his condition was worsening. My heart was torn between my desire to go to my brother and the burden the Lord had given me for this outreach. Bonnie and I prayed and asked the Lord for direction. I remember us specifically praying that we would hear from my brother before I left if we were to cancel the trip. The next few days passed with no news from my family. Then, literally hours into my flight to Taiwan Bonnie got the call.
My brother, who was in England, had taken a turn for the worse. He had never asked for anything in all those years that he served our family. Now he had just one request: He wanted to see me before he passed away. Bonnie called me as soon as I landed in Taiwan. We knew from the timing of the call that it was God's answer. It was one of the most painful times in my life, but I let the answer from God determine my decision rather than my very real feelings of love and desire to honor and be with my brother in his last hours on this earth. Because I committed myself to be with those pastors, hundreds were getting saved in cities that would normally see maybe one or two salvations a month. I was watching this miracle work of God in the services and outreaches – and yet my brother had said, "I just want to see you." I had committed myself to do the Lord's work – and yet my brother was calling me.
I went to England as soon as our outreach concluded, but I did not get to see him before he passed away. And it hurt. I felt that I had failed my brother. I knew I had been faithful to the direction of the Lord, but inside I carried that deep hurt for a very long time.
Months later, I was ministering in a meeting in Florida. Suddenly as I was praying for people I felt the presence of the glory at my side. There was Someone – the Lion and the Lamb was standing there. I could feel His hand on my shoulder and His presence penetrated into my innermost being. He said, "Mahesh, because you could not go to be with your brother, I went instead."
His words invaded the place of that hurt and took away all the pain, the sense of failure, and the disappointment I felt for letting my brother down. That word brought healing into my soul and my broken heart. It totally transformed the hurt that I had carried. Jesus did not choose on that occasion for my brother to be healed; it was time for him to go home, but without that word from the Lord, I would have carried a deep, unhealed wound. Instead I felt as though Jesus said, "You chose rightly."
So many of the choices we have to make are not easy, and they can lead to sickness in our souls. We carry these deep wounds inside in the form of hurtful memories or weak or wounded emotions. Often we find that when we pray for people they are not even able to recall the root of their pain or their hurt, or sometimes the wound is so deep they are not able to speak of it.
If we fail to take care of it, if we never allow Jesus' visitation in there or His word to come, we will find that the effect of it is to walk around with depression or a sense of worthlessness or inferiority. Sometimes it causes fears that have no reason, anxieties for which there is no understanding. Even physical illness can be caused by the hurt that is in the soul. Unless Jesus touches that hurt, it will stay lodged in the memory or emotions.
Sometimes, by the way, wounds can have their source in ungodly acts that occurred generations ago that are affecting your bloodline. Those curses need to be broken – and that is just one of many reasons that Christians ought to run to take Communion. We should be grateful that we believe in the living blessing of the elements of Communion because the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ has the power to break even the hurt that is in your bloodline. Jesus is able to heal the wounds from the inside out, and then not only heal but also fill those vacuum areas with His love.
Heal the Wound
We do not have to walk around with our collection of hurts. God has given us a way to get healed and clear the junk from our lives. We have grace through the Blood of Jesus. His mercy endures forever, and His victory is sure.
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).
At the Cross, Jesus died to take our sins, and our every hurt. Rejection, pain, sorrow, infirmity were all dealt with at Calvary. We can exchange our hurts and even the consequences of things over which we had no control at the Cross. Give them to Jesus and draw from Him healing, restoration, and redemption. He took our pains. He took our iniquities. And by His stripes we were healed.
Psalm 139:1 says, "O Lord, You have searched me and known me." First 1 John 3:20 says, "God is greater than our heart, and knows all things." When we say that Jesus comes and heals that hurt, we are not saying that the past is changed. The past has passed. My brother went on home to be with the Lord before I could go to him. But the Lord wants to touch us in such a way that changes our response to the past and heals the pain. And then according to Romans 8:28, we know that all things work together for good. In that context, then, we release the past into God's hands and ask Him to use it for good in the present and in the future.
But when you welcome the glory, you can leave things there – concerns about your children, prayers about your marriage or your business. The glory will do above and beyond anything that you can pray for.
The Presence and glory of the Lord changes everything. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." God wants to impart His glory into each of us, transforming us, healing us, delivering us and restoring us. The key is His Presence. The more we recognize and honor His Presence, the more we will behold His glory and the more we will begin to reflect that glory in the earthly realm.
Today is the day of salvation. It is a day of restoration, of wholeness, of healing. As Jesus comes, He heals not just our bodies but our hearts and souls as well. Because of the finished work of the Cross, we can depend on His mercy and His grace. We don't have to be in fear, but we can be in faith. Through the Blood we have healing. Let's let go of the junk in our souls in this new year and welcome the Blood and the Glory that heals deep wounds, breaks curses, and transforms us from glory to glory.
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