I refused to look down at it.
I knew stories of people who had lost limbs but didn’t feel a thing because they didn’t look at it. This was no lost limb, but the same concept would surely apply to the wound on my leg.
We don’t need to get caught up in the details of how I got my injury (dog-walking gone wrong to say the least). All you need to know is that the incident left a sizeable portion of rock (maybe about an inch) in my shin. But I didn’t know that at this moment because I refused to look.
“I can take it out,” my father confidently commented.
Take it out? Take what out? Though I didn’t know the details I had the wisdom enough to say no to his offer. Instead, we headed straight to the hospital.
The Search for a Remedy
Our wounds are not always physical. It could be an emotional wound: a comment from a parent that struck deep, abandonment from a friend, or verbal abuse from a boss. It could be a mental wound such as depression or anxiety. Or maybe it is a physical ailment; a chronic condition that won’t cease.
These wounds have us seeking for a cure. They have us rushing to the hospital – both literal and metaphorical. We don’t want to feel that pain. We need relief.
There is a woman in the Bible who was driven by the same search for a cure.
And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.
(Mark 5:25-26)
Can you relate? You search and search for a cure only to be met with disappointment. You might try doctors or YouTube videos. You read all the books, do all the research, meet with all the professionals and nothing. Maybe your strategy was to remedy it with alcohol or media or porn or drugs. Maybe it was through building your career or gaining popularity that you hoped to find relief.
The world offers a variety of cures. Medicine, entertainment, and success are all offered as solutions to our problems. And this is not a new thing. In Hosea 5:13 we see a nation who sought for the cures offered by the world.
When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
And sent to the great king.
But he is not able to cure you
or heal your wound.
Why weren’t they able to heal? Ephraim and Judah went to a king – one of the most powerful and knowledgeable individuals in the ancient world – and he was still unable to cure them. But what comes after this sentence is even more striking.
A God Who Wounds
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
(Hosea 5:14)
Is God saying He is going to… wound them? He’s tearing them? And carrying them away? Um, why?
Because true healing often requires tearing away the source of the hurting.
Even though it hurt when the doctor moved – “tore” – away my skin to remove the rock, it was critical to bring true healing. He would’ve had to tear away more had I tried to handle it on my own. If I had allowed my father to take out the rock himself, there was a high chance that part of it would’ve remained embedded in my skin. As it stayed there, my body would’ve started growing tissue around it. My skin would’ve looked healthy, but deep down that tiny rock could’ve caused infection, harming the rest of me. The doctor would’ve had to tear away much more if we had handled it this way.
God does the same. He wants us to heal. He doesn’t want us to suffer from the deeper infection our wounds can cause. In order to heal, He must tear. But He doesn’t leave us there if we so choose.
“Come, let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn us, that He may heal us;
He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.”
(Hosea 6:1)
He tears us to show us that the distractions of the world, their ointments and remedies, do not truly heal. He strikes us down to display how our wounds are still ever-present despite what the world offers. No kings, no physicians, no media, no addictions can truly heal us.
Everything else can distract you but only God has the power to heal you.
The True Healer
She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
(Mark 5:27-29)
It is easy to read this and feel like “Jesus” is a pat answer. What about the times God does not heal? What about when the anxiety stays, the chronic disease is ever-present, and the broken relationship is just as broken?
This is why distraction is much easier. It feels good, it doesn’t require waiting, and we can do it on our own.
What we didn’t talk about was the other individual in the story, Jarius. He had a daughter who was very sick (Mark 5:23). While the woman with the issue of blood was being healed, his daughter died (Mark 5:35). Why did this woman get healing while his daughter didn’t?
Jesus’ response to Jarius was “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36). What Jarius didn’t see was that Jesus was going to raise his daughter from the dead (Mark 5:42). This disease was not the end. He was going to heal her. Even if it meant doing so in a way that existed outside of Jarius’ expectations and timeline. And this is the same hope we have.
I never saw the wound I had until I reached the emergency room. I had no idea how gnarly it truly looked. I didn’t comprehend the seriousness of my injury nor what it would take to heal it. In the same way, we cannot see the absolute seriousness of our injuries (Ephesians 2:5). But Jesus can.
Just as I trusted – without seeing the severity of my wound – that the physician had it, we must trust the process of the Great Physician even when we can’t see or fully comprehend.
God promises eternal life free of pain and tears (Revelation 21:4). He promises healing from the death-grip of sin (Romans 6:22). It may not be the healing we expect. I don’t think Jarius expected Jesus to allow his daughter to die only to bring her back to life. But I think it is often because our expectations are too low. We allow the frivolities of the world to define healing as quick, convenient, numbing gratification.
So are you hurting today? Come to Jesus. He’s the only cure.
Resources
- Mark 5
- Revelation 21
- The Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee
- Escaping the Cult, Exposing the Lie, and Discovering God’s Will: Costi’s Story by The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast
Overwhelmed 