New and Not So New: Hurts of the Past and Present
“Tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.” Psalm 78:4
I was talking to a friend this morning who was struggling with her past. When I mentioned that God needed to be Lord of her past as well as her present, it resonated with her. We were talking about memories formed before the age of cognition (roughly birth – 5). She has suspicions about abusive behavior, but can’t remember the exact incidents. I assured her that this is good, because God is protecting her from those memories. Jesus was there with her in the memories she does have. He was weeping at the hurt she was enduring. Why didn’t God save her from those painful past incidents?
There are several reasons that God allows the hurts of our past. This world is Satan’s and his followers. He is the god of death, disease, destruction, and devastation. God gave him limited authority over this earth and the people that live here. When we live in Satan’s garbage pit, we will get garbage on us. Thus, abuse from others in our lives was allowed by God. Nothing comes to us except by the hand of God. If we trust in Him as Savior and Lord, He promises to make all our experiences into good by working in us. You would not be the person you are today without the hard knocks you sustained growing up.
Hurts of the past teach us about our need for God and His faithfulness. They make us able to stand in faith as new hurts hit us with hurricane force. Past hurts teach us to put our faith in Jesus, not in other human beings. They teach us the importance of forgiveness, and humble us as we realize that our actions have hurt others. Hurts allow us to minister to others with similar hurts. We understand. We’ve been there and can comfort others and speak God’s truths into their lives.
The past hurts teach us that we are no less and no more than others. They can teach us to treat others with more empathy, concern, love, and patience. When we realize the grace that God has poured upon us as we heal from past hurts, we are able to extend grace to others. Lastly, we learn to dance in the pain with praise to our God who was working in our hearts then and is still watching over us, loving us, and protecting us from so much that we may never know.
Try turning your hurts into praise. God will be there in the midst. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Ps. 100). He will bring the peace that passes understanding into your heart and mind (Phil. 4).