Processing the Hurts from the Past: Part 1

Imagine you are tethered to a ten pound weight. That in and of itself is not something that sounds terribly difficult or horrendous. Day after day, though, you trudge along with this albatross shackled to your ankle. Annoying, but never absent the weight is always there. For regardless of whether you are relaxing watching a favorite TV program or you are hustling to get to an appointment this attachment is always with you - 24/7.

At times you would like to be free of this burden, but for the sake of our illustration, you are not permitted to be free of this. Life still goes on. The weight is always there. You have almost accepted it as part of your life.

To rationally think of going through a day and allow yourself to be tied to a useless weight seems ridiculous. Yet, many peole go through life constantly replaying in the theater of their mind the excruciatingly painful episodes from the past. Any number of things may have been the result. An abusive mother. Being sexually molested by an uncle. Forced to witness untold integrity lapses that have left you scarred and wounded.

In attempting to find peace for these issues, further challenges are met. For some, simplistic answers that reveal shallowness of heart and faith. The lack of congruent thinking leaves some sufferers with the prospect of abandoning their faith.

Now when you add the intricate component of marriage and family responsibilities, you have racheted up the stress levels for ones who are so burdened. As a result such individuals may experience less fulfillment in their lives. Not only that, the area where the person suffered in the past is like a pothole in their memory bank. Just as potholes in roads tend to erode over time, so potholes caused by being attached to pain may cause those who suffer to circumvent portions of their lives where the pain is associated.

The psalmist delcares in Psalm 10:1 "Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide your self in times of trouble" (NIV). In the midst of his pain, the psalmist shared his heart with God, acknowledging that he felt distanced from Him. As we read on further we realized that the pslamist was reacting to the treatment by an unidentified wicked person. Evil people dump truck loads of garbage on unsuspecting individuals who agonize years later. And the gall of it all, they seem to get away with it.

The focus of Psalm 10 is not the pain, but the One who walks us through the pain. Toward the end of the Psalm we read, "You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more" (Ps. 10:17-18, NIV).

What is most interesting about this passage is the use of two words: "encourage" and "defending". A proper translation of "encourage" means "confirming a position"
(Hebrew - Greek: Key Word Study Bible: NASB, p. 1901). The other word which is rendered "defending" means "defend, execute (judgment)" (Ibid., p. 2067.) In other words, the one who has suffered painful horrors from the past that still afflict and encumber his/her daily living is one who may look forward to God for vindication and execution of divine judgment upon the one who caused the pain.

There are indeed two assumptions. One is that the one so afflicted will be one who is seeking after the Lord to settle the matter(s). The other assumption is this: in His time God will carry out judgment on anyone who does evil against another person and remains unrepentant. That is why when we read "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written:'It is mine to avenge, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19, NIV).

Being free from the bondage of pain in the past may be facilitated by employing a skilled counselor. That in no way negates the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. He sometimes uses humans as His point of contact to work through the junk from the past.

Next time we will continue this discussion on "Processing The Hurt from the Past". The emphasis will be on pain whose source may not be easily identified.