A friend shared a story of tragedy yesterday.
There is a lot of pain involved.
As he spoke of the incident, anyone would have agreed,
it would be hard to live through it and come out healed on the other side.
PTSD is real and can bring back memories and there is no easy remedy for it.
Many people suffer after they have experienced trauma.
The memories and emotions come flooding back
with no way to escape them.
The trauma can affect health and life in all areas,
and, while stating the obvious, peace of mind.
I was praying for this friend today.
I thought of a couple of parables.
The first one is of the Unjust Judge:
And He spake a parable unto them to this end,
that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying,
There was in a city a judge,
which feared not God, neither regarded man:
And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying,
Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself,
Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Yet because this widow troubleth me,
I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
And shall not God avenge His own elect,
which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh,
shall He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:1-8
Jesus wants us to be unrelenting, seeking Him for the answer.
The second parable is when the disciples had been fishing all night
and had caught nothing. And Jesus said, Let down your nets:
Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon,
Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
And Simon answering said unto Him,
Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing:
nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes:
and their net brake.
And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship,
that they should come and help them.
And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,
Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
For he was astonished, and all that were with him,
at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: Luke 5:4-9
Peter did not do this because he wanted to.
He did not trust anymore in his own fishing skills.
He did it because the Lord told him to do it.
He was honoring the word of the Lord.
He really didn’t have much faith about the situation.
He just did what he was told, the faith came when the nets were full.
God reaches down to us to lift us up to Him.
I was thinking about this friend. He is wounded. He is hurt.
In reality, though his injury cannot be seen from the outside,
he is like a person who is missing a leg,
who needs crutches or a prosthetic leg.
Jesus sees what he needs, whatever that is.
Like a puzzle that is missing pieces in order to be whole.
Jesus is the missing pieces.
He is the One who helps him to keep walking through the world
without the leg, carrying his cross.
There is no easy answer to this situation.
It could be that the Lord has not finished the healing
and that is my best guess.
When that happens, we have to keep asking and seeking and knocking.
Remember the lady who had the issue of blood for 12 years and she said,
if only I can touch His garment? Like that.
Jesus does allow us to go through tragedies.
He also is there for us, to heal us, to make us whole again,
even if that means that He Himself is the only way to fill in the missing pieces, so that we can be whole again.
When Paul talked about the thorn in the flesh,
which was allowed to vex him so he would not be prideful,
this could happen for any reason the Lord might allow.
The Lord did not remove the thorn from Paul,
but instead answered: My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Similar to that.
Jesus’ strength is made perfect in weakness.
That means, when that thorn is present,
we must find ways to accept His strength by humility,
find those pieces that are missing in our puzzle
and be One with Jesus in those moments when we are weak.
That is one element of faith that Jesus will be looking for
when He returns to earth.
The ability to let Him carry our burdens, to meet our needs,
to fill the empty parts of us when we are broken.
This could be a life-long injury
and Jesus might need to constantly be the One who gives him strength.
My friend may just find healing as he yields to the Lord.
Scriptural References:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth;
and he that seeketh findeth;
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread,
will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?
Matthew 7:7-10
And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
And had suffered many things of many physicians,
and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered,
but rather grew worse,
When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind,
and touched His garment.
For she said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole.
And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up;
and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
And His disciples said unto Him, Thou seest the multitude thronging Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched me?
And He looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before Him, and told Him all the truth.
And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole;
go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Mark 5:25-34
And lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me,
lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And He said unto me,
My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake:
for when I am weak, then am I strong.
2 Corinthians 7-10