Where Does It Hurt?

Great peace have those who love thy law, and nothing shall hurt them! Psalm 119:165

When I think back on the early days of parenting, and the early days of teaching Kindergarten, I remember using the words, where does it hurt? countless times. Children have a habit of exaggerating physical hurts, and it is always important in order to assess the situation to find out exactly where they are hurting in order to help.

Last week I had an unexpected conversation with a lady who exercises in the pool sometimes when I am there. This lady came to America years ago as the friend of a Persian princess whose family fled the country before it became Iran. I don’t know her well, but what I do know from my own observation and experience is that she always appears very self sufficient, she is extremely opinionated, and very out spoken. I have since learned that my assessment was a bit skewed.

Our conversation began the other day when just the two of us were in the pool, and she suddenly asked,
“Diana, where do you hurt?” I was confused at first, but then I realized that she was asking what part of my body hurts since I’m always in the pool. I explained that my back bothers me, and then asked her, “Where do you hurt?” She told me that her knee hurts, and that she has upcoming knee replacement surgery. We bonded immediately as Dr. Hanna is also her doctor and Randy and I know him well!

As we talked, I asked her who would care for her during her recovery, as I knew her husband had died several years ago. She teared up, touched her chest symbolizing her heart, and said, “I am not sure. My daughters both live around here, but neither one care about me.” The realization hit me that her hurt didn’t lie in her physical pain alone, but rather in her emotional one. I put my hand on her shoulder, hugged her, and said that I would pray for her. She blew me a kiss, put both hands together as if praying and bowed slightly as is the custom in her country. My initial assessment of her just took a huge turn!

Sometimes it’s not the physical hurt in our lives that pains us, but the emotional hurts we all bear. The atrocities of the last week have left us all hurting in different ways. We hurt for the families of the hostages, we hurt for the senseless loss of life, we hurt as we face helplessness and utter bewilderment. We hurt when we see others worn down by poverty and never seeming to find relief. We hurt when we see ourselves or others shackled by an incurable physical disability. We hurt when we find ourselves completely alone and separated from those we love forcing us to face the trauma of life alone.

This world during times of adversity tends to dethrone God who is the living, guiding, sovereign of the universe and relegate Him to a lesser role of an inanimate dead abstraction. We forget that He is present and working in all the hurts of this life. The hurts could be removed from many of our agonizing trials if we could look upon them as Job learned to do “seeing God in everything”.

Many of us have experienced hurts in our lives. We have lost people who were close to us, we have experienced hurt from some person or situation, or we’ve been hurt in some other way. When Paul became a Christian, he was ostracized by his peers because he was once a persecutor of the church, and now, as a Christian, he was looked upon as the enemy. He experienced hurt, but he was never totally alone, he had Jesus and his new Christian friends.

Everyone has different hurts, but it can help to focus on the positive things that are still in our lives. For example, we might not be able to do all the things we once did physically, but spiritually, on the inside we are stronger and able to do more for others than we once did. There might be a physical decline, but because of Christ we are on a spiritual incline. If we switch our game plan, the new focus can provide relief from the hurt.

Wherever we hurt, don’t lose heart, don’t give into despair, and don’t give up! The hurts that come our way in life don’t define who we are. God and others will be there to help us through them. When life hurts, Jesus can make it all better!

This week let’s keep in our thoughts and prayers all those who are hurting whether close or far away.