Transforming Wounds into Connections and Healing
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I used to believe that the main thing I had to offer to life to the world to people to you was my gifts but I now live in a world where people seem to receive more from my wounds than they do for my gifts it's a good thing to have gifts and strengths and I and all of us rejoice in them but somehow we meet in a deeper Place uh when we meet in the valley that involves suffering That's The Fellowship of the withered hand that's a deep way that transformation comes that's what we are learning about in these days but then I have to go through pain and not knowing and especially that involves my relationship with God [00:00:27]
Most of the Book of Job is just outcries from him and then bewildered confused defenses of God by his friends who end up according to God being wrong even though the theology looks quite right and when you go through pain difficulty suffering very often what we see in job is um completely contradictory thoughts about God and so towards the end of the book he talks about God being the one who has committed injustices against them what how can you let these things happen and yet the only hope that he can cling to for justice though he slay me I will trust him [00:00:55]
Here's what he says in chapter 23 if only I knew where to find him that is God I would come to his tribunal I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments would he use great force to contend with me though surely he would heed me there the upright could reason with him and I would finally be acquitted of my suit anden David writes about the tension in job's thoughts now and we're all this way and there's no way to grow with God except going through this questioning and struggle [00:01:37]
The Divine judge from whom God expects AC quiddle is of course the same God whom he accuses of Injustice with a passion for justice instilled by God he turns the prophetic demand for Vindication of the righteous against God here's the acute Paradox that lies at the heart of this book and also the reason that the church is afraid of IT job rails against God not as a skeptic not as a stranger to God's justice but precisely as a Believer it is the very depth of job's commitment to God's ethical Vision that makes his rage so Fierce and that will finally compel an answer from God [00:02:10]
The witness of the Book of Job is that rage and even blame directed to God are valid moments in the life of faith and the Very fact that job's outcry against God goes on throughout almost the entire book tells us that moment may last quite a while what's happening Faith often can only grow uh if we're willing to bring our questions and our confusion before God and raw honesty now this actually ties very deeply to something written about by Steph Joseph he is a expert researcher and practitioner in the field of trauma [00:03:31]
Imagine that a cherished vase sits on a table in your home perhaps it was a gift from a beloved relative or friend I have just such a vase in mind when I was very very small my father got for my mother a real really really nice phase for um kind of what their financial condition was in those early days and he was so excited about it he told my sister and I we were tiny uh Bud he said now this is a secret you cannot tell your mother but I was so excited I said to my mom I can't tell you what you're getting for Christmas cuz it's a secret but it's a vase cherished vas one day you accidentally knock it off its Purge luckily there's only a little damage it's easy to quickly glue the few broken pieces back back into place it looks like it did before [00:04:15]
For some people traumatic events are like this such events May Dent or even break some of their core assumption but not to the extent that their overall worldview changes relatively easy for them to assimilate the experience but imagine that the vase smashes into a thousand tiny shards that's job devastated you rush to collect the fragments how to put them back together in the disorganized confus usion the vase seems beyond repair nevertheless some people will try to put it back together exactly as it was before it fell to the ground if they're lucky the vase may look as it used to closer examination will reveal the truth however it is held together by nothing more than glue and sticky tape the cracks are still visible the slightest jolt could send the vase back into pieces once again [00:05:02]
Some people will take up the pieces and build something new they are sad that their prized face is broken but except that it can never return to its old form the question now becomes what to make of it next perhaps they can use the different colored pieces to assemble a mosaic finding a new and useful form to preserve their memories this is the essence of what in the psychological field is called accommodation where uh I have to reconfigure my inner world to accommodate this new reality and this is what uh trauma brings us to [00:06:09]
Trauma is a Bible word in Jesus story about the Good Samaritan and the man beaten up on the road the Good Samaritan binds up his traumata his wounds he has been traumatized and the truth is everybody has been beaten up uh by this world by death if nothing else by sin um so you know we're sometimes tempted to think oh there's lucky people out there and I just compare myself to them I compare my insides the pain I go through with their outsides the way they present themselves to the world [00:07:12]
The Bible says that Jesus has done this remarkable thing that he took on our trauma Isaiah 53 in the septu the Greek translation of that says uh for he was wounded and they use the verbal form of trauma he was traumatized uh for our transgressions he went through trauma for us so that we could be delivered and freed and incorporate uh the broken shards of our life into something new behold I am doing a new thing do you not perceive it God says so today how do you not deny not pretend not tape and glue uh how do I take how do you take your hurts they might look pretty small but in moments conversations of vulnerability transparency honesty [00:09:13]
Today uh what are the broken places what are the wounds what new thing is God doing in your life don't be in denial talk to God if you're in a place of great conf confusion um uh great anger be real honest with God about that there's no way to the other side we'll we'll see a little bit more about where job gets but you got to got to go through that today how do you do that with honesty and at the same time trust he is still my redeemer I will not let him go [00:11:03]
Who today out of your woundedness out of your own hurt and pain can you speak mourn with them notice them uh talk with them in your own weakness and humility in ways that will connect you together with them in that movie As Good As It Gets that very unlikely Trio becomes a little Outpost of The Fellowship of the withered hand and it is their shared pain with each other that introduces them into a community of love and healing it is always so it is ever so stretch out your hand [00:11:45]
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Most of the Book of Job is just outcries from him and then bewildered confused defenses of God by his friends who end up according to God being wrong even though the theology looks quite right and when you go through pain difficulty suffering very often what we see in job is um completely contradictory thoughts about God and so towards the end of the book he talks about God being the one who has committed injustices against them what how can you let these things happen and yet the only hope that he can cling to for justice though he slay me I will trust him [00:00:55]
Here's what he says in chapter 23 if only I knew where to find him that is God I would come to his tribunal I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments would he use great force to contend with me though surely he would heed me there the upright could reason with him and I would finally be acquitted of my suit anden David writes about the tension in job's thoughts now and we're all this way and there's no way to grow with God except going through this questioning and struggle [00:01:37]
The Divine judge from whom God expects AC quiddle is of course the same God whom he accuses of Injustice with a passion for justice instilled by God he turns the prophetic demand for Vindication of the righteous against God here's the acute Paradox that lies at the heart of this book and also the reason that the church is afraid of IT job rails against God not as a skeptic not as a stranger to God's justice but precisely as a Believer it is the very depth of job's commitment to God's ethical Vision that makes his rage so Fierce and that will finally compel an answer from God [00:02:10]
The witness of the Book of Job is that rage and even blame directed to God are valid moments in the life of faith and the Very fact that job's outcry against God goes on throughout almost the entire book tells us that moment may last quite a while what's happening Faith often can only grow uh if we're willing to bring our questions and our confusion before God and raw honesty now this actually ties very deeply to something written about by Steph Joseph he is a expert researcher and practitioner in the field of trauma [00:03:31]
Imagine that a cherished vase sits on a table in your home perhaps it was a gift from a beloved relative or friend I have just such a vase in mind when I was very very small my father got for my mother a real really really nice phase for um kind of what their financial condition was in those early days and he was so excited about it he told my sister and I we were tiny uh Bud he said now this is a secret you cannot tell your mother but I was so excited I said to my mom I can't tell you what you're getting for Christmas cuz it's a secret but it's a vase cherished vas one day you accidentally knock it off its Purge luckily there's only a little damage it's easy to quickly glue the few broken pieces back back into place it looks like it did before [00:04:15]
For some people traumatic events are like this such events May Dent or even break some of their core assumption but not to the extent that their overall worldview changes relatively easy for them to assimilate the experience but imagine that the vase smashes into a thousand tiny shards that's job devastated you rush to collect the fragments how to put them back together in the disorganized confus usion the vase seems beyond repair nevertheless some people will try to put it back together exactly as it was before it fell to the ground if they're lucky the vase may look as it used to closer examination will reveal the truth however it is held together by nothing more than glue and sticky tape the cracks are still visible the slightest jolt could send the vase back into pieces once again [00:05:02]
Some people will take up the pieces and build something new they are sad that their prized face is broken but except that it can never return to its old form the question now becomes what to make of it next perhaps they can use the different colored pieces to assemble a mosaic finding a new and useful form to preserve their memories this is the essence of what in the psychological field is called accommodation where uh I have to reconfigure my inner world to accommodate this new reality and this is what uh trauma brings us to [00:06:09]
Trauma is a Bible word in Jesus story about the Good Samaritan and the man beaten up on the road the Good Samaritan binds up his traumata his wounds he has been traumatized and the truth is everybody has been beaten up uh by this world by death if nothing else by sin um so you know we're sometimes tempted to think oh there's lucky people out there and I just compare myself to them I compare my insides the pain I go through with their outsides the way they present themselves to the world [00:07:12]
The Bible says that Jesus has done this remarkable thing that he took on our trauma Isaiah 53 in the septu the Greek translation of that says uh for he was wounded and they use the verbal form of trauma he was traumatized uh for our transgressions he went through trauma for us so that we could be delivered and freed and incorporate uh the broken shards of our life into something new behold I am doing a new thing do you not perceive it God says so today how do you not deny not pretend not tape and glue uh how do I take how do you take your hurts they might look pretty small but in moments conversations of vulnerability transparency honesty [00:09:13]
Today uh what are the broken places what are the wounds what new thing is God doing in your life don't be in denial talk to God if you're in a place of great conf confusion um uh great anger be real honest with God about that there's no way to the other side we'll we'll see a little bit more about where job gets but you got to got to go through that today how do you do that with honesty and at the same time trust he is still my redeemer I will not let him go [00:11:03]
Who today out of your woundedness out of your own hurt and pain can you speak mourn with them notice them uh talk with them in your own weakness and humility in ways that will connect you together with them in that movie As Good As It Gets that very unlikely Trio becomes a little Outpost of The Fellowship of the withered hand and it is their shared pain with each other that introduces them into a community of love and healing it is always so it is ever so stretch out your hand [00:11:45]
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