Jesus is Your Healer

Jesus knows your pain. Jesus bore your pain on the cross. But even better than that, Jesus can heal your pain.

Jesus Knows Your Pain

So often you may feel that no one understands your pain. You tell your story and people glibly say, “Just get over it,” or “You need to forgive and forget.” But the pain is real and as we have already learned ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.

But there is one who does know you pain. Jesus knows your pain. He knows exactly what you are going through. He knows you at a level that no one else in the world can know or understand.

Jesus experienced great depths of pain in His life. We already mentioned the intense emotional struggle he went through in the garden. Here are a few of the things He experienced:

• Betrayal - Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver

• Abandonment - All of His disciples fled when they arrested Him in the garden.

• Denial - Jesus warned Peter that he would deny him three time before the rooster crowed, and he did.

• Injustice - The trials Jesus went through on the night He was betrayed were illegal according to Jewish law.

• Slander - The leaders said that He was possessed by the devil casting out demons by the power of the devil. They brought false witnesses to find some excuse to put Jesus to death,

• Rejection - The religious leaders and people rejected Jesus as Messiah and chanted for him to be crucified.

• Physical Abuse - The soldiers beat him, plucked out pieces of his beard, placed a crown of thorns on His head and hit it in with a rod, they beat his back with whip thirty-nine times, they drove nails into His hands as they crucified him on the cross.

• Mockery - The soldiers, mocked him by placing a robe upon Him and calling Him king. The leaders and people mocked Him as He was hanging on the cross.

• The Weight of Sin - When Jesus hung on the cross the sin of the world was placed on Him. The point of the crucifixion was that Jesus would bear the full penalty for our sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us.

• The Wrath of God - The full weight of God’s wrath was placed upon Jesus on the cross. God’s righteous anger and judgment were centered on Jesus as a sacrifice for all.

All of these things show how Jesus can relate to your pain. But there is even a greater way that He understands your pain. He is God and knows all things. He knows you. He knows your thoughts and feelings. He understands exactly what you are going through to the slightest detail.

I am sitting with Dennis and Gayle, a very distraught young couple, who just lost their newborn baby. The father is sobbing and shaking his head back and forth. He could not believe that his baby boy just died. I say gently to the couple, “I can somewhat understand what you are going through.”

The words are barely out of my mouth and the father’s head snaps up. His eyes glare at me and he vehemently says, “You don’t understand how we feel. I am sick and tired of people telling me that they know what I feel. You don’t know what I am feeling.”

“No, I don’t know exactly what you are feeling,” I say, “but my wife and I lost our first son.” The hardness of his eyes softens and he tilts forward open to receive my story.

“My wife is seven months pregnant and her water breaks. They rush her to the hospital and she gives birth to Zachariah Lee, we call him Zach.”

“I couldn’t be there for Zach’s birth because I was in Basic Training for the Air Force in Texas. At mail call that day my Training Instructor made the announcement that Airman Tuinder is the father of a new baby boy. I was shocked and so happy I could hardly stand it.”

“The next day another Instructor called me into the office and told me that my son was dead and that he was there to help go through the paperwork to go home on emergency leave. My heart is broken. My son’s dead. My wife is 1,500 miles away.”

“After what seems like a million years I arrive home. I walk in the bedroom where my wife is recovering. I run to her, grab her into my arms, and we weep together. She tells me that Zach lived less than twenty-four hours. The doctor did all he could do but his lungs collapsed and he died.

“The first and only time I meet Zach was at his funeral. He is lying in a tiny casket. I walk up and look at him. He is lying there so peacefully. I run my hand over his hair and giggle, because his hair was longer than mine.”

“No, I can’t understand exactly the pain you are going through, but I do know the pain of losing a baby.”

Maybe no one around you understands the pain you are experiencing, but Jesus does. You may think that you have to bear this pain alone, but you don’t. You can bring your pain to Jesus. Jesus took your pain upon Himself on the cross so you don’t have to bear it.

The first two lines of verse four tell us that Jesus bore or carried our griefs and sorrows. He took them upon Himself when He went to the cross.

Both the word griefs and sorrows (note they are plural) carry the idea of physical and emotional sickness or anguish. Jesus bore your physical and emotional anguish on the cross.

We already mentioned that emotions are okay and that God gave them to us. When bad things happen to us we should expect to experience pain, but pain is only meant to be temporary. There should be an end to the pain.

It’s when pain is allowed to linger that trouble begins. Unresolved emotional pain has been known to cause physical illnesses, relationship problems, and personal inner struggles. You are not created by God to bear long-term emotional pain. Jesus came to bear our emotional pain and distress.

Jesus Can Heal Your Pain

“. . . He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted . . . ” (Isaiah 61:1)

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

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

“He restores my soul . . .” (Psalm 23:3)

This is the great part of the story. You don’t have to remain in pain. God sent Jesus to bind up your broken heart. Are you willing to bring your pain to Jesus? Will you walk through the steps below trusting that Jesus will meet you and heal you?

It really comes down to a decision that only you can make. Do you want to continue to try and deal with your pain in the ways discussed above? Or will you take your pain to Jesus and willingly give Him each feeling and emotion?

Maybe you’ve cried out to Jesus to take your pain away before and nothing happened. I am asking you to do something else. I am asking you to bring your pain to Jesus, give it to Him, and ask Him to heal your wounds.

Set aside some time and go through the following steps with every painful situation that plagues you. Take your time. Be thorough.

Prepare

Set aside a block of time. Be sure to have a pencil and paper handy. Go somewhere you can have privacy.

Ask

Ask the Lord which painful memory He wants to heal. It might not be the biggest issue you are dealing with, but trust Him to lead you through the process of healing.

Remember

Remember the situation. Who is involved? What is taking place? What are you feeling?

Remembering might bring up strong emotions that make you feel uncomfortable. Don’t try to stuff them or ignore them. Examine what you are feeling and write down each feeling on your piece of paper. They might include feelings of fear, anger, shame, helplessness, disgust, regret, etc.

Forgive

Who in this memory hurt you? Whom do you need to forgive?

You might be struggling with the thought of forgiving the person who hurt you. It somehow feels wrong. They caused so much pain, how can you forgive them?

Forgiveness is not letting someone off the hook, or treating what they did to you lightly. It is not ignoring, forgetting, or excusing what took place. It is not dependent on them feeling sorry or asking for forgiveness.

Forgiveness is releasing a person from all your feelings of anger, hatred, and revenge and trusting God to deal with that person. Forgiveness is a choice you to make release that person and let them go. It is a step of faith and obedience to the Lord recognizing that He will ultimately bring justice.

Be as specific as possible as you forgive each person involved. Don’t give out generic forgiveness like, “I forgive my dad.”

The person who hurt you did so through specific acts. Forgive them for those acts. Say something like this. “I forgive you mom for calling me a loser in front of my friends. I forgive you for embarrassing me. Or I forgive you for always being so negative and critical of me.”

So go ahead, speak out your forgiveness. Don’t just think it in your mind, use your voice to proclaim your forgiveness. Then trust the Lord to deal with that person.

Give

Now give the Lord all the pains that you are carrying. Take the list of emotions and feelings you are experiencing and one by one give them to the Lord. Ask Him to take it and bear it for you. Be specific and press in until you feel it is gone.

Say something like this, “Jesus, I give you my feelings of embarrassment and humiliation when my mom called me a loser in from of my friends. I ask you to take them and bear them for me.”

Heal

Ask the Lord to heal every area of your heart that was affected by this situation. Invite Him to restore your soul. Ask Him to fill you with His life and blessings.

Go through the process until you have given the Lord every feeling involved in the incident and you can look back at it without pain and heartache. If there is still things that rise up, bring it to the Lord until nothing remains but His peace.