Healing from the Hurt

I have written about the Scent of Healing here and I really thought about writing it in this post again. I’m afraid you won’t really go back and read it first, but I want to focus on what the Lord has been teaching me recently from something He showed me several years ago. So please promise you’ll go read it. Here it is again.

So now that you’ve read it, I want to talk to you about something that will help us for the next year. How to move on. How to heal from the hurt.

If we’re honest, we’ve all been hurt. Betrayed. Let down. Done wrong. And you know what happens when we don’t heal? We are unable to help others heal. You might not care at all about helping other people, but if you stay hurt you will definitely start hurting other people.

As I started thinking about Joseph and the scent he brought with him as he journeyed toward Egypt, I wondered what He might’ve been feeling or praying on that long trip. I don’t know for sure, but from looking at his life and what he did and how he acted once he arrived, I believe it’s safe to say that God healed his heart from the hurt of his brothers’ betrayal. Why? Because we see in Exodus 39:2, that “…the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.” So I took a long look at Joseph’s life and I found some help on how to heal the hurt.

1. We must keep going in the face of betrayal, brokenness and burdens.

Joseph had good reason to quit. He could’ve told the Lord he was done on the way to Egypt. While sitting in that caravan of spices, he could’ve given up. His family had betrayed him. They hated him so much that they were even willing to bring their father great physical and emotional pain to get rid of Joseph. But Joseph kept going. The Lord was with him once he arrived in Egypt. Everything prospered under Joseph’s hand and he was the overseer of his master’s house. Do you want what you do for the Lord to prosper? Do you want God’s blessing on your efforts? Do you want to make a difference in the lives of those around you? Then you must keep going. Don’t give up.

2. We must stay guarded when we are tempted to give in.

You know what happens when you keep going? The enemy sees and he will be ready to try and take you down. A temptation to sin. A temptation to give in. Joseph had good reason to give in to his flesh. I mean, he’d been sold. He could’ve told himself he deserved a little pleasure. No one would know. He was trusted. He could have said yes to Potiphar’s wife. But instead, He was faithful. Faithful to what God had put him in charge of. Faithful to God himself. Where would he have ended up if he had given in to that temptation? Sometimes we see Joseph as superhuman. And though he is a picture of Christ, he was still very human. I’m sure Potiphar’s wife was beautiful. And she knew how to wield her womanly wiles. But Joseph had allowed God to heal his hurt, and this enabled him to stand firm against temptation.

3. We must continue to use our God-given gifts.

Joseph really had good reason to stop now. He had not given in, and look where it got him? Thrown in prison; for being FAITHFUL TO GOD. But once again, “…the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” Exodus 39:23

Now you know what I would’ve been thinking by now? “What’s the use, Lord? I’ve done everything you told me to, I dreamed dreams that made people jealous but you gave them to me. I kept going when I wanted to quit. I didn’t give in and stayed faithful to you. I’m innocent and now I’m locked up.” But because Joseph allowed the Lord to heal his hurt, he was right where the Lord wanted him to be.

However, the dreams were what started the spiral of events in Joseph’s life. If it were me, and someone started telling me their dreams and wanted me to interpret them? I’d say NO THANK YOU and run far, far away. But not Joseph. He didn’t stop using his talents because of someone else’s jealousy. He didn’t stop using his talents because of someone else’s criticism. He didn’t stop, because he knew God had given him that gift. Once again, Joseph was faithful and he correctly interpreted those dreams.

And, once again Joseph was seemingly forgotten. But God had perfect timing and He continued strengthening Joseph, using Him, and waiting for the right time for Joseph to bring healing to the land. All because Joseph had allowed God to heal the hurt.

We know the rest of the story. How Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and he was put in charge of storing food for the famine. There was no one else, save Pharaoh, higher than Joseph. He got a wife, a family. He was enjoying the blessings of being faithful. All the while, God was preparing Joseph to bring healing to not only the land, but to his family. The family that had betrayed him. And his greatest test was yet to come.

4. Be gracious when you have the opportunity to get revenge.

This is perhaps the hardest point of all, but we see all that time that was spent waiting was not wasted. God had to get Joseph to this point. Joseph had good reason to kill his brothers. All the years of heartache and sorrow, the missed years with his father. But Joseph knew that what they {Satan} meant for evil, God meant for good. And when the opportunity for revenge came, Joseph showed mercy. Grace. Forgiveness. Healing. He realized that it wasn’t his brothers that had sent him away. It was God.

“And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God:”

Exodus 45:7-8

God doesn’t always make bad things happen, but He can always use them for good. And when we realize that, we can heal. People are mean, selfish, hurtful, angry, wrong. Human. But what would have happened if Joseph had let the betrayal and the burdens and the brokenness stop him? What if he had given in to the temptation that would have ruined him? What if he had refused to keep using the talents God had given him? What if he had chosen to get revenge instead of extending grace? He would have never healed. He would not have been the deliverer. He probably would have died right along with everyone he loved during the famine.

Whatever betrayal you have faced, let God heal it. Whatever brokenness you find yourself in, let God heal it the way HE wants to. Whatever burdens have crushed you into the ground, let God work. Wait on Him.

Don’t give in. Don’t stop serving Him. Don’t listen to the critics, the discouragement.

And when the opportunity comes (and it will) to give them what they deserve……..don’t.

I look back at the many times I should have been unforgiven. How many times it would have been justified for God to give me what I truly deserved. And all I can do is raise my hands, with head and heart bowed, and thank Him that He didn’t. He didn’t withhold His forgiveness. He didn’t keep back His mercy. He didn’t spare His grace.

And I want to be like Him. I want to forgive like Jesus. I want to be merciful and gracious. I want to heal from the hurt.

Because you know what will happen? The scent of healing will be evident in my life. Just like Joseph carried with him the healing scent of those aromatic spices as he rode into Egypt, when we allow God to work forgiveness in our hearts, we can carry that scent around too. The Egyptians had no idea what Joseph brought with him when he stepped foot into their country. They didn’t know he would be their Savior. But God did.

Most of the people at the foot of the Cross didn’t know what Jesus was doing as He hung suspended in the air, bleeding for a dying world. They didn’t know He was their Savior. But the scent of healing wafted down through the ages and it reaches us today. All because of those precious words put into action….”Father, forgive….”

Father, help me to forgive. Heal my hurt.

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We must forgive because He still does.

“You Still Forgive”