“He restores my soul…” (Psalm 23:3 NASB)
John Eldredge writes about how the soul can be wounded and how wounding affects our relationship with our Father. I believe he’s right and I’ve been thinking about how Jesus dealt with the wounds of the world; both personally and corporately.
Jesus was battered by the very people He came to save. Consider His life: ridiculed from conception, attempted murder at birth, utter poverty and anonymity throughout His first thirty years. His ministry began with deep scrutiny and outright interference from church leadership. This relationship only soured over time; provoking hatred, false accusation, all resulting in an unfair trial, public humiliation, beating, flogging and crucifixion.
When I compare Jesus’s wounds to my own I realize that mine are only minor scrapes and bruises. His wounds demanded His life. We take months and years to heal, yet He returned to the scene in three days: resurrected, whole and without an ounce of vindication in His heart. This is mind boggling because Jesus is and was just as human as you and me, but also God-in-skin at the same time.
How did He manage to heal from His weighty wounds so swiftly?
What happened in the three days between crucifixion and resurrection?
Most importantly, was it His relationship with His Father that healed His wounds so quickly and surely?
Perhaps proximity is the problem for me, and maybe, also, the answer. The closer we walk with the Father, the less the opinions and injuries of the world will matter. We’ll still care: Jesus obviously cared deeply, enough to go to the cross on our behalf, but He learned to love without holding a grudge. He understood that building a church out of living stones would hurt. He held His Father’s esteem above anything else and thus He healed from the wounds of working with humanity much faster than we do.
Healing is hurried by our close proximity to the Father. What’s more, a closer walk with Him insulates us from further injury. Jesus was able to recover quickly from the backlash of working with broken people because He was absolutely secure in His relationship with God.
I don’t know about you, but I know where I need to grow today. I know where to find wholeness. I know Who can heal my soul. The secret to restoration is relationship and I see today how my relationship with the Father can grow. I can internally turn up the volume of His truths louder than anything that is said on earth. My hero, Jesus, learned to live in uninterrupted divine connection while here on earth and then He sent His Spirit for us to employ the same powerful privilege.
May this treasured hymn be our prayer today:
I am weak but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
Thro’ this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.