Craig Clouston

Let Healing Begin

I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD…

Jeremiah 30:17

Shaun had fallen out of a tree in the vacant lot up the road and was literally covered with abrasions from falling through its branches. Deaf from birth, communicating where the worst pain was located was difficult.

“Maww!” he cried as Rachel dabbed the cuts on his face with antiseptic. He signed, S.T.O.P! She suspended treatment to determine what it was he was trying to tell her. “Nodahurt!” he blurted, while signing, m.y. b.a.c.k.

Turning him around, Rachel lifted his shirt to find a saucer-sized bruise, “Did you land on your back?” she asked.

“Es!” he answered, and then, “Rrrrok!”

Superficial abrasions forgotten, Rachel gently probed the injury. With each touch Shaun winced, “Unngg!” He repeated S.T.O.P!

Deciding a doctor’s visit was in order, Rachel explained the situation to Shaun.

The look on his face said he wasn’t so sure he should have shown her. “It’s okay, Buddy,” she assured him, “the doctor will be gentle.”

Shaun quietly endured the doctor’s poking and prodding. Following an x-ray the doctor reentered the exam room and addressed Rachel’s concern, “Nothing broken, Mrs. Helms. Pretty deep bruise though. He’ll be sore for a couple weeks, but he’ll make a full recovery with no residual effects.”

†

At times we struggle to tell God where it hurts. Not because He doesn’t know where the pain originates, but because we’re not sure we want to endure the temporary discomfort of healing.

When we are wounded our immediate concern is to dull the pain. So we pull out the spiritual antiseptic, something we feel capable of applying ourselves, and dab lightly at the symptoms; that’ll take care of it we say, and off we go. And in the process the true cause of our pain is left unattended.

Treating the cause instead of the symptoms requires enduring God’s probing touch. Like Shaun, we must submit to examination. But God will not force us to confront our pain. Instead, He promises to be gentle, and invites us to let healing begin.

Prayer

“I know that You see my pain, LORD. But letting You touch it frightens me. Help me in faith and trust to submit to Your healing power. Make me whole in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”