HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HURT?

November 15, 2019

Everybody gets hurt. It can start early with a parent, a friend, an enemy. It could be a classmate or a colleague or a work associate. Most painful are the hurts that come inside our home from a parent, a child, or a spouse. We live in a fallen world and one of the most devastating parts of our sinfulness is that we hurt each other by what we say and do.

Or, it could be a circumstance or tragedy that has hurt you. Misunderstanding its intent, you fail to see God’s sovereign hand above it all. It could be the loving discipline of the Lord, sent to train and develop us. If we fail to understand His purposes in our training we can become angry and hurt. And hurt internalized and held onto becomes bitterness.

Bitterness is a corruption in my spirit which comes by my failure to accept and thank God for every person and circumstance He allows in my life. And bitterness in our soul is a horrible disease.

A WARNING FROM HEBREWS

… reminds us to not hold onto hurt.

 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness spring up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15)

Bitterness will always ...

• SPRING UP: You can’t hide harbored hurt. It will always manifest itself.
• CAUSE TROUBLE: When we are hurt, we build strategies so that we don’t get hurt again. If we allow them to continue, these become a part of our character, who we are. Anger, insecurity, fear, lack of faith in God and others, unbelief, criticism, gossip, cynicism … and the list goes on. All of these are symptoms of the root of bitterness.
• DEFILE MANY: Our bitterness always affects others. Not only will it hurt others, but it can lead to the same root of bitterness developed in their lives.

THE REMEDY

… is the grace of God. When we are under difficulty or hardship, we must cry out to God and give thanks. Responding to our circumstances and the people who hurt us with humility and forgiveness unleashes the grace of God, for God “resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

Instead of harboring hurt, we learn and grow and become better, not bitter. By God’s grace, no person or circumstance can hurt us, but develop us into Christlikeness if we make the choice to see it from God’s perspective and respond as He instructs.

If you look closely, there are probably some broken places in your heart where you have never accepted God’s sovereign working and thanked God. There are people that you still need to forgive and release to from your courtroom (where you are judge, jury, and executioner) to God’s courtroom. As you do, you will discover that nothing can really hurt the true, forgiving believer for their God works “all things together for good” for His purposes to conform them to the image of His Son!

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