When You've Been Deeply Hurt

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."
Romans 12:14

vs 19-20
"Beloved, do not avenge yourselves,
but rather give place to wrath, for it is written,
'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord.'
Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him,
if he is thirsty, give him a drink,
for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."

This is not easy to do when you've been hurt by someone. In fact, it can be pretty near impossible.

Does God require us to do the impossible?

Of course not. He knows very well that all kinds of emotions fill us when someone hurts us, rejects us, insults us, speaks against us, and these emotions are just the normal human reaction common to every human being. But the Lord does not want us to stay there. IF we confess our desire for vengeance and ask for the GRACE which will enable us, the Lord WILL settle our hearts and give us peace. Sometimes it will be immediate, sometimes it will be a process. The emotions may have gone deep and damaged the soul. If you bring to the Lord something that happened a long time ago, it may take time to heal the heart, sometimes peeling off one layer of damage at a time. But God will enable us and help us ...IF we ask.

We acknowledge the admonition from the Lord to forsake wrath and withhold acts of vengeance, but in bringing it to him we allow HIM to take responsibility for dealing with the person who hurt us.

God knows the situation thoroughly. He knows and understands the hurt you have sustained. And he cares. He cares very much. He counsels you to do nice things for that person, because that will demonstrate your faith when you act in obedience. Do it HIS way, by faith. That will start the process.

Jesus stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and said:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to preach the Gospel to the poor;
He has sent me TO HEAL THE BROKEN-HEARTED,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed..."
Luke 4:18

Meditate on this passage until it becomes life within you. He WILL perform this in your heart as you wait on him.

Pray with me:
Father, I bring to you this terrible hurt I have sustained because of ...(and here specify it, all of it.) Father, the hurt and the damage go deep. They are beyond my ability to deal with. The damage has bound me up in all manner of resentment and anger and desire for vengeance. I hear your Word and want to do as you say, but this is beyond me. So I bring the whole situation, all that went into it, all the damage it has done to me, all the unfairness ...and I lay it all before you asking you to take it over and heal my broken heart. Dealing with this is not humanly possible, Lord. But it is very possible with you. I surrender all that is inside me ...to you. I surrender my whole self to you. Please take this burden and be "the great Physician" to me and heal me, and enable me to do what is impossible to me - ENABLE me to forgive.