Pastor Sam's Weekly Devotionals
The God Who Wounds
Verse for Meditation:
“He wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.” – Job 5:18
We’ve been focusing the past few months on setting our attitude and plans for the 2025. But what if God has other plans for us? Are we ready to accept and respond to Him – especially if He wounds? Here is a reflection that helps us respond appropriately:
IN WORD – Have you suffered wounds from God? We’d prefer never to know pain at His hands, but the Bible gives us no such promise. What we are promised is comforting, but much less relaxing than what we’d like to hear. We want a god who will always give us what we want and will never teach us hard lessons. We want to be conformed to the image of Jesus without the chisel that shapes us. But God’s hand, though always good, isn’t always easy. He takes us through not only joys and comfort, but also pain. A quick survey of Scripture should be enough to convince us.
Just ask Job—or Abraham, Joseph, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, John the disciple, Peter, Paul, Stephen, or any other character God used. The godly life is joyful but painful. Or we could just ask our living Lord. That sacred head once wounded has a testimony for us: Those who worship God yet live in this world will be traumatized by the contradictions between the two. Count on it. And it isn’t just an unfortunate spiritual dynamic; the God we worship has ordained it. Whether for correction or character, it’s from Him. Is that unsettling?
Don’t worry; His wounds are never deeper than they must be, and never beyond His ability to heal. In fact, He has promised to heal them. But we must have them if He is to shape us. There’s no way we can be like Jesus and yet wear no scars in this world.
IN DEED – Did you think the Christian life was going to be without pain? No. Look at Jesus. Look at His disciples. Look at two thousand years of church history. Or, closer to home, look at the headlines. The crucified Lord has a crucified church. It’s the only path to resurrection. No, the Christian life is by no means without pain. It can’t be, not if it’s real and if it exists in a hostile world. And not if we’re going to be like Jesus. But neither is it without comfort and healing. That’s why we can worship the God who wounds as well as the God who restores. He knows what He is doing; He is preparing us for glory. “No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.” – William Penn (in “Heaven on Earth” by Chris Tiegreen)
When we face suffering, we often want it to go away because we believe it would never be part of God’s will. But there are times that God allows suffering to remind us of our own human frailty and our need for healing.
A friend of mine once told me how a doctor made him go through the painful experience to of rebreaking his hand. My friend injured his hand and did not go to see the doctor immediately. But by Because of his delay, the bones had healed, but incorrectly. So in order to restore his hand fully, the doctor had to “wound” him again in order to reset the hand correctly.
Sometimes, the hurts and pains we suffer in this life may need such a “wounding” again. Should we need to go through such a process, we nevertheless can be assured that God has the best intents for us.
Several years ago, I gave a seminar on how we can respond to suffering, found in Salt and Light (https://saltandlight.sg/faith/suffering-can-draw-us-back-into-the-life-that-god-intended-for-us-tips-for-people-helpers/). I hope the principles in the article will prepare you should God need to “wound” you in 2025. Have a blessed week! – from Singapore, Pastor Sam