Psalm 38:5 "My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly".
Isaiah 1:6 "From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness-only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil".
Not a very appealing question. If we were honest with ourselves, we spend lots of time showering...grooming...smelling and looking nice and presentable. Ofter all, we don't want people to think that we don't bathe, or that we are nasty. So we spend time trying to prove otherwise.
But what about the inside? Do we spend as much time cleaning on our inside as we do on our outside?
If you are human (and I feel certain you are) then you have been hurt at some point in your life. Maybe multiple times. Maybe from the day you were born until this very day. Maybe not so much. Perhaps you have only one or two war stories....but the pain is just as real.
Did you know that if you get a cut on your leg and you do not clean it and care for it, it will become infected. Not only infected...but it begins to stink. You can smell the infection. Grotesque, oozing infection. Eventually, if not cared for, it can spread and affect other parts of your body. How many people do you know that has a wound on their leg and they refuse to help it heal? None that I know of. Then why is it that we let the wounds of our hearts fester and stink...and spread? If you have a wounded leg that is infected, people will know it because of the smell. If you have a wounded heart that is infected, people will know it because of the smell.
(remember Ps 38:5 and Isaiah 1:6)
Allow God to heal your wound. Don't be happy in your stench of bitterness. Let God release you from your infirmary of sickness...sickness of the heart. We can become comfortable there and we may think....what would I ever do if I didn't do this? Who knows what God might have you do if you weren't to busy feeling sorry for yourself....or festering over wounds of the past. He might use you to part the red sea, or bring down the walls of Jericho, or reach out to your community in his name.
If you think you are content in our state of infection...I challenge you to think again. Let God do his job and heal your wounds and your joy will be great.
Just think about that.
