EISH! INGEST YOUR HURTS

The book of Job 9:27 suggests a way we sometimes try to handle the rejections, defeats, or failures we experience – by pretending to be okay even though we are really very terrified by the things we can’t understand.

You may have collected enough hurts to keep you from wanting to press forward. Setbacks can take the joy of God out of your life if you don’t watch out! Even success – steady, solid, and exceptional – can make you the target of criticism from colleagues who are jealous of your achievement.

Careful! Hidden hurts in the heart can nurture and nourish negative thinking. Often the most painful wounds are not the scars that are outwardly seen but the hidden wounds deep in the heart. Because they are hidden they are often the most dangerous.

Whale with barnacles

 

Ingest your hurts and stimulate a novel spirit and spurt of growth! If, in fact, your drive to grow has lost its passionate power, if the flush of enthusiasm has mysteriously diminished, then check the accumulation of negative emotions that have attached themselves to you, much like barnacles that attach to whales.

In one documentary on television, I saw a whale stopping alongside rocks to scrape off barnacles as they migrate in the ocean. In the walk of life, we, too, will pick up a collection of personal hurts that will attach themselves to our souls like parasites sapping the life and vitality out of us. Ultimately, Job found restoration not in hiding behind a false face of well-being, but in recognising and acknowledging the greatness of God (Job 42), and so can we.

Have a great week.