In the Binding
Psalm 147 tells us, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” It continues later to say, “His understanding is beyond measure.”
Following a weekend full of crowds and cheering and celebrations that may not feel genuine in a season of grief, these verses come to mind. As I sit and reflect on the healing God gives, I can not help but be reminded that healing takes time. Healing is a process and there is not one way of healing that works for everyone. How amazing that in His knowledge and understanding, He cares for each of us individually. He sees our needs and meets us where we are.
Think of a hospital. Maybe for some, like myself, thinking of a hospital brings up painful memories. But let’s think about who goes to the hospital. A wide variety of people go through those doors; people young, people old, people overdosing, people having babies, people having heart troubles and people experiencing a myriad of other symptoms. What do these people all have in common? They all need help. They all need more than what they can do for themselves and they or someone who cares about them realizes the severity of the issue and helps them get as close as they can to the people who might have the answers and helping hands to get them on the road to recovery.
Now let’s think about this from a grieving spiritual perspective. In our grief, we all walk different paths. We lose people who mean different things to us. Some of us are thrust into grief while others begin grieving months or years before our loved one is gone. Some of us experience grief at a young age and others do not come to know it until we have more life experience. Although we all come from different backgrounds, we all have one thing in common: we are facing a burden too great to bear alone and, although all humans experience this at one point or another, no human is equipped enough to be our only source of comfort and healing. This is when God comes into play.
He binds up our wounds. Naturally, the outcome after being bound is healing, but we must not overlook the process of the binding. Binding wounds can be painful. Putting cloth over open wounds is harsh, delicate, and takes time. Additionally, the healing process also takes time, may have setbacks, and the wounded may never return to their original state. The same is true of us in our grief. No matter the pain we our facing, the healing is also painful. The good news is this: Jesus heals the brokenhearted. Period. He binds up our wounds, which means He is delicate with us, He watches over us in our pain, He monitors our care in the healing, and He guards us until we are restored, although we may never be as we were before the grieving began.
How beautiful of a picture is it to see God as our nurturer? He is constant, He is Father, He is good all the time, He is faithful, and He cares. So, as we enter into a week possibly feeling tired and consumed with emotions, let us cling to the One Who promises to heal us (continually) and bind our wounds for us, no matter our damages and recovery time. Let us also find joy in knowing that even though we will never return to who we were before the grieving began, we can rest in knowing He who cares so deeply for us will use our healing to grow us as we allow Him to.
