Sometimes it is hard to remember to seek God first when our heart hurts. Have you ever had an encounter with a loved one in which the words they said to you hurt you? I mean a deep down hurt that seems to overwhelm you and make your next breath hard to take. In that moment I find it hard to think charitable and loving thoughts. I find it hard to look at the situation from that other person’s perspective. I just think of how much it hurts me. We might all be like this at times. Most of us take harsh words personally. It is hard to look any further than what we feel deep inside.
There are many examples of hearts hurting in the Bible. Many examples of people who suffered far more than me. My situations caused me to feel overwhelmed in the moment, but we do not have to read far in the Bible to find greater hurts.
An important thing to remember in times when our heart is hurting is to trust in God. Trust in the words he left behind for all of us.
“Seek the lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! 1 Chronicles 16:11
It is often helpful to try to empathize with that other person. I said try because as humans we can have difficulty looking beyond what we personally see and feel. We find it hard to “walk in another’s shoes” or to try to think beyond that actual moment in time. There are verses in the bible that remind us to think of others, to treat others with kindness and love, to forgive others if they hurt us and to always seek his strength.
The challenge is to think of all of the lessons we are taught from God’s word instead of lashing out from a place of hurting . If we speak quickly in response to perceived slights, we risk saying things that we might never have spoken in other circumstances. That old adage of thinking before we speak really does have some merit.
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