Wounded
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”
– Isaiah 53:4
Life is painful. Whoever says that you can pray, or pay, or have more faith, and somehow escape being hurt during your lifetime is either playing a cruel joke on people or has never seen the depth of despair that can grip the human heart. Lives are shattered every day: a car wreck silencing the laughter of a young child, a soldier opening his eyes to the reality of never running again on his own two legs, disappointments at work, harsh words spoken by those closest to us, the deafening silence of being intentionally ignored. These are some of the injuries that leave us wounded. They cut down to the deepest recesses of the soul and give birth to words like failure, loneliness, and despair. Some are temporary and heal with time, leaving visible scars. Others never really heal, always open and easily injured again.
For the children of God these wounds will one day be healed. There is wholeness in Christ that includes our physical and mental scars. Here they are altogether ugly (even if only to us); there we will be beautiful. That is why He can see us as beautiful here…now, because He sees us as we truly are…with Him. There is only one in heaven who will forever bear visible wounds: the Lamb that has been slain (Rev. 5). For He has gathered up all our hurts and injuries and burdens and has voluntarily allowed the Father to wound Him, so that one day you will never have to feel wounded again.
