Time Doesn't Heal, God Does

Wednesday, 4 July 2007

On 18th June, I blogged about the counsel of the ungodly, which encompasses "worldly wisdom" because it is devoid of God.

One often-quoted saying is "time heals all wounds". This is not true. Only God does.

And this point was put across by Pastor Peter Koh during the Ohana Camp.

As I reflect back upon my own life, I realise that this has indeed been the case. As a teenager with a face full of acne, classmates would tease me with nicknames such as "crackers face" or "disease face". It was a painful time, and my way of dealing with it was to escape into the world of pop music (hence I am very familiar with the songs of the 1980s - but that is a topic for some other time).

Did I feel hurt about those comments? Of course I did, and very much so. Even many years later. But things changed when I surrended those hurts to the Lord. Time did not heal those wounds. God did.

There is another worldly saying, "Forgive and forget". The addition of the word "forget" may seem to be no big deal, but many believers struggle to forgive others because they find it difficult to forget the incidents which have left them feeling hurt.

If you were to search the Scriptures, you will not be able to find the above phrase.

We are asked by the LORD to forgive others, not so much for their sake, but for our sakes' because harbouring resentment and bitterness actually keep us in bondage. By releasing forgiveness to those who have hurt us, we ourselves are being released from those strongholds.

But can we forget? I don't think that is possible because Satan will continue to put those bad thoughts into our head in an attempt to keep us from victory. Forgiveness is a choice. If we choose to forgive, God starts the healing process to remove the sting from and pain of those memories.

Twenty five years later, I can still recall those nasty remarks from my secondary school classmates. But I can tell you, hand on heart, that those remarks do not upset or hurt me anymore, because God has healed the wounds.

Praise be the God!