Why SO MUCH Hurt, LORD?

Brokenness and contempt and judgment as well,

How did we get to sit so much under evil’s crooked spell?

It grieves our God to see all this mess,

But rest assured, all, God has modes of redress!

***

It’s a rather naïve question, the one posed by the title. Most Christians can tell you that it is brokenness and the sinful nature that creates circumstances where people hurt, get hurt, and stay hurt.

Wherever there is a relationship that experiences intimacy that relationship will almost certainly suffer the strains of hurt; and it will need to overcome conflict in order to survive and thrive. Yet at any point, notwithstanding the previous conflicts negotiated, that relationship can be split asunder.

The potential for hurt is graphic; it’s an ever present threat.

The only way we can insulate ourselves against such hurt is in the fullest of journeys with God. Only when God becomes the most important thing do all other things pale into insignificance, among them the idea of being or staying hurt.

This is perhaps why so many so-called Christians hurt or get hurt, despite the grace they should otherwise experience that would fortify the experience of being hurt and would prevent the propagation of hurt onto others.

We have to wonder when a Christian person is hurt and why is it so? We are, again, being naïve if we think the Christian is beyond getting hurt or beyond hurting others, or that forgiveness becomes easy or easier. So much we find Christians are no different than non-Christians when they get into that hurt space.

But then again there is great power in grace and all Christians should, in theory, be able to access such power; but it requires surrender—that we would no longer be the centre of the universe, but God would take that place.

Where there are hurts and those hurts remain, without redress, we can wonder where God is. Does the Spirit depart or shrivel or become quenched? The longer hurts are allowed to fester without such redress the more apathy of care is noted on the hurt side of things and the less of a chance there is of reconciliation.

The person hurt is likely to be farthest from God, but isn’t it up to the person closest to God to entreat the weaker one with compassion?

It grieves God so much that his people would willingly war with each other. It’s a reprehensible situation of the direst means. Yet that is life as we know it; as we’ve always known it; as we’ll always know it.

Human beings taking control in life, despite God. That’s what must be behind it.

***

Why so much hurt, O Lord our God? Could God be saying, “It’s because I am not at the centre of their existence.” We also need to observe that it is our human way to stray from God’s ancient path. It resounds, therefore, that where there is hurt anywhere repentance should be the response everywhere. But that is expecting too much. If we would do God’s will more we would (all) repent more.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.