WOUNDED?

My dog was recently impaled by a sharp object, and it left a hole in her side, behind her leg, the size of my pinkie finger. 

We were not sure how serious it was at first, and in fact, like all labs, she responded like nothing really happened, until the next day, when I really was not sure if she was actually going to live.

Whatever impaled her, possibly could have gone through her chest wall, or stripped the tissue along her rib cage.  She had a large super swollen area on her chest.    After we got her on some antibiotics and aspirin she improved, she actually slept, drank water, and looked like she wasn’t going to die.

Five days after her accident, her chest, in the swollen area ruptured, not the area where the wound originally was, but lower on her chest.  I returned home from work to find her with a gaping leaking wound.   ( If I am to make the letter “c” with my hand that is the size of the hole on her chest.)

Once the rupture happened, then nacrotic tissue, started to make its way out…seeping….sloughing, and needing to be cut away.

Her health overall has greatly improved, however she has a gaping raw wound in the middle of her chest.

Needless to say, it has been quite a week, and however disgusting this picture is, it does parallel the spiritual side of sin.

Our hearts can be wounded by the effects of sin, either sin of choice or sinned upon.  We live in a fallen world and our wounds are exposed to the elements surrounding us.  If we do not attend to those wounds right away, our bodies deal with them in their own way… in the case of my dog…inflammation, infection, swelling, fever, and rupture…

But what does that look like for us in real life, with a wounded heart? How has that looked for you?

Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God an; lest any root of bitterness springing up, cause trouble’ and by this many become defiled.

And I find more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters, He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner will be trapped by her.

For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks into a snare.

None of us are immune from being wounded by the world around us.

BUT GOD. 

We do not have to stay broken, or trapped in our own hearts, emotions, relationships, etc. 
We can find healing, but we have to be willing to take responsibility for our own part.  And we also have to be willing to submit all of it unto God, trusting Him and submitting everything unto him.

We shouldn’t wall off our hearts from God, like our body tissues do to protect our organs from infection; allowing the wound to be isolated. BUT we do…sometimes thinking to ourselves, “I am ok”… and ‘encouraging’ ourselves with…”It is not that bad.” 

However, the infection from the sin and pain does breed.  At some point our wounded heart will “rupture”.  But at what cost?  How much death…how much sin, how much pain can our wounded hearts harbor?

God will lovingly expose our sin, but like with my dog, we have to be willing to cut it off.  Dead tissue cannot remain in our physical body, just like sin cannot remain because it breeds more sin and sin, is death.

So my dog has this gaping wound, and like humans healing takes time.  Her wound will need to be attended to.   But for her, she has to wear a cone on her head, so her focus is not on the wound… and allow us to care for her wound, while she tends to her daily needs of eating sleeping, and being loved. 

May each of us allow the Lord to attend to our wounded hearts, while instead of us focusing on the hurt, we focus on His Word that soothes, comforts and nourishes us, providing rest, and true understanding of His love for us.