The Wound that Wouldn’t Heal

Grief is caused by varied events: betrayal of a confidant; separation from a loved one; unrequited love; death in the family; etc. But each one can leave a wound that wouldn’t heal. 

If it happens on a Wednesday, it affects all our Wednesdays (plus all days of our weeks) thereafter. Life has changed and so have we.

This grief brings a pain we cannot ignore, as sensitively rendered by my artist/writer friend, Lorenz, who uploaded this on his FB wall sometime ago. I downloaded it because it graphically illustrates how a wounded someone (including me) feels at some point in his/her life. 

(The Wound that Wouldn't Heal by ENZO) 

Yet, despite what we feel, the world turns: children attend school, employees go to work, housewives shop in supermarkets, scammers prey on the naive; politicians deceive voters, etc. 

We, the wounded ones, are left to wonder with the prophet, “Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?” (Jeremiah 15:18) 

C.S. Lewis describes his after the death of his wife, in A Grief Observed. C.S. Lewis describes his after the death of his wife, in A Grief Observed. Let me quote some parts: 

“In grief nothing ‘stays put.’ One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. . ."   

This heart-stabbing we feel is found in Scriptures.

It was felt by Jesus Himself. At the Triumphal Entry, while descending the Mount of Olives, His disciples cried out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Luke 19:38)

Then, when Jesus drew near the city, He was so pained that he wept (Luke 19:41). This alludes to Jeremiah (9:1), the weeping prophet:  

“Oh that my head were waters,

and my eyes a fountain of tears,

that I might weep day and night

for the slain of the daughter of my people!” 

We may never return to life as it once was. But—although easier said than done—we must never let this ache stop us from living. We can ask for grace moment by moment, groan by groan, tear by tear. That old wound may never heal in this life, but Jesus will glorify our scars in the next.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3 ESV)