I won't go into any detail here, but I have been there as well. Just a few nights ago, I was talking with a friend about hurt. As I was sharing some things with her, she began speaking about hurt and healing. She said something that stuck with me. So much so that I decided to write on it! She was explaining to me that God has healed me from my hurt, yet I am being poked at by the devil, who wants me to believe I am not healed quite yet. She said, "The surgery went well, but I can poke around in the incision all day long."
As I thought that night about what my dear friend had said, Galatians 5 first came to mind. Galatians is a book in the Bible that is actually a letter written by the apostle Paul. He was writing to the Galatians Christians (hints the name: Galatians) because they had turned from their freedom in Christ back to the old Jewish law. Galatians 5:1 says,
"It is for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (ESV)The second part of that sounds a little "churchy," but the NLT version says, "Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law." In other words, Paul is telling the Galatians to live out the freedom they have been given and not go back to their old ways of the strict Jewish laws.
So what does this have to do with surgery, incisions, and being hurt?
Well, just as Jesus has set us free from the law, He has also healed us. Psalm 147 says,
"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds." (v. 3 NLT)How does this work? I'm if you're hurt, you're thinking, great. Jesus can heal my broken heart. What does that even mean and how does that even work.
Valid questions!
Colossians describes what it means to be healed.
"...in Christ you have been brought to fullness." (2:10 NIV)We have been made whole in Christ. Our brokenness can be healed in Jesus.
Isaiah 53 tells us how Jesus heals.
"He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed." (NLT)Because Jesus took our punishment by being beaten and whipped, we are free to receive healing for our brokenness.
I'm sure some of you are thinking, this isn't for me. You don't know my situation. Jesus can't heal this. This is as far from truth as it gets! I love what Matthew 9 says,
"Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages...and he healed every kind of disease and illness." (v. 35 NLT).It does not say Jesus healed "some" or "a few," but every. Jesus is a master healer, a perfect doctor - he has the remedy for your illness.
Oftentimes, God heals our broken hearts and binds up our wounds (Psalm 147:3), yet we listen to the evil one, the devil, telling us the lie that we are not yet healed. One important truth we need to understand in this is that the devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy us (John 10:10). The ESV says that the thief (the devil) comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. In other words, the devil will do anything and everything to destroy us, and if he can use a broken heart to do that, he sure will.
And this brings us to the quote of my wise friend, "The surgery went well, but I can poke around in the incision all day long." This is how the devil responds to our healing. He sees that God has healed us, and there is nothing he can do about it. The devil cannot undo or even touch the work of God. Remember, the devil only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So once he sees that God has healed our wounds and our broken, bleeding hearts, the devil goes back to his drawing board and begins plotting ways to mess with what has already been done.
While God has healed us, we are still fresh out of surgery. Good news is that the surgery went well. Like I said, God is an expert surgeon and knows what He's doing. However, the incision is still healing. It's a little itchy, uncomfortable, and tinder to the touch. So the devil starts poking around in the incision, making us question whether the surgery is good and done or not.
The important thing to remember is that while the incision is still healing up, the surgery went well. We are on the road to recovery. Do not listen to the lie that God has not healed you, forgiven you, or made you whole again. That's just the devil poking around in your incision from surgery. It's tinder, it's uncomfortable, but focus on the healing God has done for you. Walk in the truth that you have been healed. Do not let the devil negate what God has done.
"Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me." (Psalm 30:2 NIV)
