Last Sunday morning when it was time to print the weekly bulletin, I had a very hard time trying to decide what picture to use on the front page. Since it’s spring, I thought a nice budding flower or some cherry blossoms would be nice, but I just couldn’t decide what to do.
As I was walking across the entryway of the church, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly into my thoughts: “Get a “fude” (writing brush), pour some “bokujuu” (India ink) into a “suzuri” (a stone ink dish), take out a piece of “hanshi” (Japanese writing paper) and write the character for “heart” and then put a bandage on it!” Well, I did exactly that and here’s what it turned out like. Very simple title: Kokoro no kizu (hurts of the heart).
Man, was I surprised, because the message I was about to preach that morning was from Psalm 107:19-20 — “Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and He saves them out of their distresses. He sent His Word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions (original Hebrew meaning ‘pit’). Ain’t we all been there? Have you ever heard the expression: “Life is the pits”?
I think everyone in the whole wide world has at one time or another had some pretty deep hurts put in their hearts by another person. What people say and sometimes do can literally destroy another person’s self-image, character and confidence. Have you ever heard of an animal destroying a person with verbal lashes? It’s people who hurt people’s hearts. It’s God who heals them!
Look, look, look at this! When Jesus stood up in the synagogue that day to read from the prophet Isaiah, He spoke of Himself and said, “The Spirit of the Lord God (that’s the Holy Ghost) is upon me because He has anointed me (smeared and rubbed me with oil) to…bind up the brokenhearted…” That literally means to use a bandage, to wrap firmly especially with a compress! That bandage, that compress is none other than God’s love for you! It’s the Holy Ghost who applies the bandage and kisses it to make it feel better. THIS is the ONLY way a person’s deeply hurt heart can be healed, because there is no way a surgeon can get into the depths of the human heart.
Are you hurting this weekend? Do you feel your life is the “pits?” Has someone lashed out at you with verbal atrocities in anger and rage and hurt your heart? Destroyed your confidence? Listen, why not go to church this weekend, and after the service go up to the altar and get a bandage from God? If it really hurts, cry and God will make it feel better.