Deal with Hurt and Pain
ICS Daily Devotions
Isaiah 53:3-5 (NKJV) He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes, we are healed.
This passage is a prophecy regarding the suffering and the redemptive work of the Messiah on the cross. For our sake, Jesus was betrayed, flogged, spitted upon, humiliated, mocked, and ridiculed by men, and forsaken by the Heavenly Father as He turned His face away. Therefore, Jesus understands what rejection feels like. Every form of suffering of mankind, whether in the body, such as sicknesses, pain, and sin, or in our emotions, was born by Him on the cross. Therefore, we come before Jesus by faith, believing that He has borne our sorrows, grief, rejection, and pain on the cross. We choose to give all our hurt, pain, grief, affliction, rejection, and sorrow to Him. We praise Him that He has borne them on the cross. As a result, in addition to being saved, we have been healed of all physical and emotional wounds, and we choose to forgive those who have hurt us, whether they know it or not. We claim the promise that by His stripes, we are healed. We have decided that our joy, peace, and security are not found in what man thinks of us or how man treats us, but our greatest security is found in God’s view of us. We refuse to play into the devil’s trickery to dwell on past and present hurt.
We might have preconceptions about certain people because of our bad experiences with them and, therefore, have difficulty loving them or being loved by them. Allowing God’s nature to flow from our hearts in love, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control will help us to deal with past and present offences.
How do we forgive and forget the sins others did to us? First, come before God to acknowledge that we have an issue with them because of the hurt, pain, and sorrow they have brought into our lives. Second, name them and the wrongs they have done to us and choose to forgive them. Third, note the time and place where the prayer was uttered to release and forgive them. Lastly, whenever the thoughts of the incident or the people come to mind, remind ourselves that we have chosen to forgive and refuse to allow our thoughts to reopen the wound. The memories and pain will eventually fade when we consistently deal with the fact that we have chosen to forgive, though it might take time to forget.
Matthew 6:12 (NJKV) And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
This portion of the Lord’s Prayer is a daily reminder that if God is gracious and merciful towards us, we should do the same to those who have sinned against us in words and actions.
Sermon Series: Lord, teach us to pray
