It’s sad, but it’s also true. People hurt people. They hurt people with words. They hurt people physically. They hurt people sexually. People just hurt people. They kill. They destroy. And when hurt comes your way most of the time it comes in the most unexpected ways from the most unexpected people in your life. You would like to think that it wouldn’t happen to you, but it does. Life just happens that way. Hurt happens because humanity is fallen and life just hurts sometimes. You want it to change and I guess it can but it can only change with you because you can’t change anyone else. But then again, you are still susceptible to being hurt again.
You say that you won’t make yourself susceptible to being hurt again, but the possibilities of being hurt again or endless. You can try to build barriers and walls. There are emotional walls that you can build, but there are ways that people can figure out to break through those walls. The physical walls that people build to keep others out can be destroyed with armaments and other devices. Let’s face it, you can try to keep yourself from being hurt but it’s virtually impossible because there’s going to be one assault after another against us from the world.
So you decide to isolate yourself. But what good is that going to do for you? Not much. You end up getting very lonely and then the mind itself begins to attack. There’s no safety in one because there are many thoughts. Although you may think that you are safe by yourself you have so many differing feelings that rampage through your brain that sometimes you cannot even tell which way you are going. One day you’re up and the next you’re down. One day you’re going to the right and the next day you’re going to the left. You never know where you’re going, you’re just going there, wherever there is. Then, just when you think you’ve arrived, hurt is there to greet you.
Hurt is everywhere you go. You can run from it, but it is there. You can try to hide from it, but it is there. Trials and tribulations abound because there are people around you let alone yourself and the problems you cause yourself. We live in a fallen world. Hurt is going to come your way no matter what.
My question is this: Is there anything that you can do when you are hurt? Is there any respite when hurt comes your way? Is there truly any hope for us when hurt comes our way?
I believe that there is. Yes, it may have seemed as if I painted a picture that there was not, but it was intentional. Going through difficult times is inevitable. These tough times will happen; it’s just part of life, but there’s hope even in the tough times. Listen to the hope that the psalmist had:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 43:5, ESV)
Again, the psalmist says:
The LORD sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down….The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. (Psalm 145: 14, 18-19, NASB)
The psalmist’s belief and understanding was that God Himself was his refuge, his rock, his salvation when hurt came his way, when despair was a part of his life, when depression or hard times were present. He leaned on Him and went to God for his comfort. He says:
My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. (Psalm 62:5-8, NASB)
When hurt comes your way–and it’s going to come your way–to whom do you turn? If it is anyone other than the Lord, then I would suspect that you will find no true respite, no true refuge, no true rock. In God you will find your stronghold, your shelter, your salvation. In Him you will find the One who will save you and redeem you. In Him you will find peace even when hurt comes your way.
D.J. Gorena 