How to Handle Hurt
Key Passage: Ephesians 4:26-27
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter number four.
I liked it when they sang, “I’m not going to hell.” Amen for that. Sometimes you just like to hear the truth, just boom in your face real loud. And that song, I love it. You did a great job this morning and on that song. Thank you very much, choir, for that.
Ephesians chapter number four in God’s Word this morning. And I had prepared or was preparing a different message. And this morning was kind of winding it all down and was looking at it. And I referenced the message I preached, I think about 13 years ago here. And I felt like the Lord said, “Hey, it’s really all about helping someone.” That’s what it’s all about. Not about preaching a good message, but about someone getting helped. And I looked at it. And I thought, you know what? That message, I think, will really help someone more than what I prepared for this morning.
I felt like just, you know how when the Lord speaks to your heart, boom. You know what He wants. And so I’m learning when the Lord says something, just do it. And so I’m going to try to do it to the best of my ability. I haven’t really looked over it a whole lot, just briefly. But Ephesians chapter number four. And how to handle hurt. How to handle hurt.
And if you live very long, you’ll get hurt. Just a couple things. And I’m afraid I’m going to be scattered. I’m trying to ask the Lord to really guide me. I want to say what He wants me to say. But a lot of this will be talking about major hurts in your life. But can I say it may be minor to someone else, but if it’s affecting you, then it’s major to you.
And don’t ever say, “Well, that’s just a little piddly thing, get over it.” Well, if it’s affecting them, sometimes for years, it’s not a piddly thing to them. And things must be dealt with. So how to handle hurt, how to handle hurt. And if you’re not there, you’ll be there, just hang on one day. But Ephesians chapter number four of God’s Word.
And we’re going to start in verse number 26. Would you please stand as I read God’s Word together, Ephesians 4 and verse number 26 of God’s Word. Ephesians 4 and verse number 26. And the Bible there says, “Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
That’s interesting. I understand the punctuation was put in by men, and I’m not saying that’s the biblical authority of the text, but I think it is very wise what men did to assist the Lord’s leadership in putting the punctuation in. And I want you to notice it is not a period after that. It’s a colon. Then he says, “Neither give place to the devil.”
So in other words, if I am not following this verse 26, there’s a good chance I’m giving place to the devil. It’s a sad thing. So just a bit here we want to talk about specifically, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” What to do when you get hurt? To hurt is to be human, by the way. Sometimes…
We think, “Well, if I was such a strong Christian, I would not get hurt.” Friend, that is not biblical at all. Jesus wept. Jesus hurt. Well, if they love the Bible, they want to get offended. If you study the word “offend” in the Bible, that has to do with you being a stumbling block; it causes you to quit. It doesn’t mean you don’t get hurt. You don’t get hurt. And that’s part of living, loving. By the way, you love deeply, you get hurt deeply. It’s part of it. But what do you do? How do you handle hurt just for a bit this morning on that subject?
Lord, we come to you. Father, I really need your leadership, Lord, always, but it just seems like now so much. I would like to say what you want said. I like to say it the way you want it said. And Lord, maybe there’s a little phrase or something that needs to be dealt with or said. Father, please lead me to say that. Help me to keep my ears in tune to you. Bless your people, connect us together into your word and grow us because of it all. And Father, we’ll brag on you and praise you and thank you for what you do. And Lord, we ask for these things in faith because we’re asking in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
“Be ye angry and sin not.” That leads to this: One thing I know, that I can be angry and not sin. Now that’s good because I’ve talked about hurt. And that’s going to be our main subject, but if you get angry sometimes, that’s all right to be angry, but be angry and sin not. Now let me explain a little bit of the difference between anger and wrath, all right?
Anger is more along the line if, and I’m teasing here, don’t take me literally on this one here, but Brother Patrick says something mean to his wife, Miss Marlene. And anger is when she just initially, boom, she slaps him. That’s anger initially. I don’t know if that’s a perfect example because I don’t know that she’s not sinning. Be angry and sin not, but it’s that initial response. It’s that initial thing that happens. It’s that flash. It’s that, ha, you know, that’s “Be angry and sin not.”
But then he says, “And let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Anger is the initial response or reaction to it; the wrath is more of the long-term effect.
He said something mean to her. You want to tell me what he said? Don’t put me on the spot like that. They’re not going to set her up anymore. But if she doesn’t say anything, but inside, whoa, things are going on, you know, and told me, fireworks going off inside. And don’t let the sun go down upon your wrath, and she keeps that in. And the next morning, as she’s cooking breakfast, she puts a little Ex-Lax. No, I mean, if it just smolders, sometimes for years, that’s wrath.
“Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” It’s long term. It’s inner. It’s burning. It’s affecting for years and years and years. Psalm 78 says, “But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not; yet many a time he turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath.”
It’s an inner smoldering. You know what a bruise is? It’s what Brother Patrick got. No, I’m teasing. A bruise is where you have bleeding going on under the skin. You can see it come up through that skin a little bit. And there are a lot of people that they have bruises in their heart and emotionally and in their mind, and they are bruised individuals. And I’ve already mentioned, if you live long enough, you’re going to get hurt, and it’s not sinful or wrong to get hurt. It’s part of it. But can I say this? Deal with the bruise. Deal with the wrath. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
Here’s sometimes our temptation: “Well, that didn’t bother me.” Well, why are you talking about it for the next 20 years? I’m not trying to be mean. I’m not saying it’s wrong for you to talk about, but friend, listen, be honest, be human about it. It did hurt. How do you deal with it? “I just say, well, I’m fine.” Friend, you are liable to not have healing, see, and you’ve got a greater chance of passing that down to other people.
And I don’t just let that wrath build up and stay in there. Here’s what happens: If I just let that, I never deal with it. I try to live—I live in denial, if you would, about it. Can I read for you another verse, another reference? It’s Hebrews 12:15. “Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”
Now notice what God says. God’s amazing. God’s got all the answers in His Word. It’s a wonderful book. I love it. It seems like our people have been getting into it a lot here. It’s wonderful. But notice how God describes it: the root of bitterness. Typically, roots you don’t see above the surface. Now, sometimes you see them, but for the most part, they’re going down in the ground. You’ll see the results of the tree, the flower, the plant, whatever coming up, the bush coming up. But typically, roots aren’t on the surface. They’re underneath.
And he says this root of bitterness—what happens? It’s inside. It’s that inner smoldering. It’s the wrath often that’s not been dealt with. They let the sun go down upon the wrath. They didn’t deal with it. They didn’t handle it. They didn’t face it. And that wrath, and what happens? It’s a root. It turns into bitterness often. It’s a root. You can’t see it. And you might not see it for years sometimes, but notice how he words it over there in Hebrews 12:15. He says, what? That root of bitterness springing up. Eventually, it comes up, by the way. If you have a major wound, it will come out somehow. You would rather it come out properly instead of coming out blowing up on your kids or your spouse. But it springs up, see? And they’re saying it springs up. What happens is root of bitterness, and it springs up, and what happens? Many be defiled.
Man, your kids get defiled, your wife gets defiled, your husband, and a lot of people get hurt, they get tainted, they get defiled. And so it’s very important that we deal with this wrath, this inner smoldering going on. If I don’t deal with it, you already mentioned it, often it leads to me repeating patterns. We’ve been praying. One of the things we’ve been praying is that people be saved, people get baptized for young couples in their church, and for family trees to get changed. Now, can I be honest? To be a part of a family tree truly getting changed is dealing with issues like this. Because if I don’t deal with these, often I’m doomed to repeat.
Look at this: If a young woman or man grows up in a home where they are abused in, whether it be verbally, emotionally, physically, sexually—that they just grow up in that and they never face that, deal of that—then they’re prone; that’s their comfort zone, to go back into the same kind of relationship.
And the saddest thing is if this girl’s been verbally abused and she’s just used to being beat down subconsciously, isn’t it amazing how it works? I mean, we used to say birds of a feather flock together. That is amazing how it’s true. It’s amazing how two people, they don’t even talk about it, but they’re majorly wounded all from the same area. They gravitate toward each other. So it’s amazing. But if they don’t deal with it, there’s a greater chance that she’ll find a guy and get up underneath the same relationship and be verbally abused in her marriage. Y’all with me out there?
And so dealing with this is very important. By the way, if that guy, maybe he grew up and he was verbally abused, or the lady, it could be either way. And I talk a lot about childhood in a message like this because those are the developmental years, they are so important. I mean, when that tree gets big, it’s hard to change the tree. When it’s little… We’ve got a mimosa tree in our front yard. Well, this is about the 20th mimosa tree. My wife wanted one out there, and we planted one, and it got cut down by the lawnmower, and we put another one up, playing football in the front yard. It got broke off, and this is about our 20th when it’s made it, amen. And it was growing out like this, and my wife wanted one big, tall mimosa tree. So over the years, we put straps on, especially when it was little, and we kept it all close together. And now that it’s grown, I don’t think we have any straps on it in years because we formed it when it was little. Now it has structure. So the formative years are so important. So sometimes we’re going back and dealing with things that should have been dealt with years ago.
“Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” But not just that. It can be you get hurt today. Now, where was I? I’m trying to remember where I was at. You get to that point. Oh, so if I don’t deal with it, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Very often, maybe someone was abused, there is a pretty good chance if they don’t deal with it, they’ll grow up and be abusive to someone else. That’s a sad deal. Have you ever heard of this term: “Hurt people hurt people”?
And so often because they don’t deal with it. And by the way, buried feelings don’t die. You need to deal with it. Now, can I say this? I’m not talking about being a victim for the rest of your life. And I’m not talking about, “Well, you burnt that house down and it’s all right because when you were a little baby, your mom and dad didn’t change your diaper.” They thought when it said up to 35 pounds, it meant what was inside the diaper, not the body of them. That was supposed to be a joke, all right? Now, I’m not talking about that, but I am talking about so you can grow beyond where you are and heal and change the family tree. Amen. So, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” See what the Bible talks about. It’s very important that I deal with it. I don’t want to live in denial for the rest of my life and never get healing.
Sometimes not dealing with it can lead to being a scorner. Look over, if you will, in Proverbs 21. I don’t want to skip this verse real quickly because you’ll see this a lot of times and you’ll think, man, what in the world happened to them? And the Bible tells us. So look over in Proverbs 21:24. I could preach a whole message sometimes on this thing of a scorner. Scorner. What is the scorner? Well, Proverbs 21:24 gives us some light on this thing of scorn. If you’re there, would you say amen? Good deal. Proverbs 21:24: “The proud and haughty scorner is his name who dealeth in what?”
Proud wrath. All right. So he’s got a bruise, if you will. He’s got bleeding underneath. He’s got that smoldering inside. Somebody, something has wounded him inside, but he’s proud. Proud wrath. And because of that pride, well, “I’m all right. I’m fine. You know, they didn’t bother me,” or whatever may be, you know, and they never deal with it. And they get proud wrath and they become a scorner.
Now, what’s a scorner? It’s just a severe critic. Typically against authority because typically it’s authority that hurt them. Whether it be a preacher—man, if you find somebody that a preacher hurt in a major way, wow—unless they handle it humbly and take it to the cross, you’re going to get a scorner against preachers, every preacher in the world, boom. I remember dealing with someone that a preacher had done her very, very wicked, very, very sinful, awful. And it was coming out, and she was crying and just crying, and I understood what was going on all the time. And she said, “I hate preachers.” Now, I know what she was trying to say. All this inner stuff that rather than build up all those years was coming out on my face. I’m not the one that did it, but I was kind of the bullseye at the moment. And she was—praise the Lord, she’s way beyond that right now.
But you see, they become a scorner because authority—maybe it’s a school teacher, maybe it’s a parent, maybe it’s an aunt, maybe someone who did it—maybe they’ve been wounded a lot of times by authority, and so they’re looking for any nook or cranny in the armor of the leader. They’re looking for any angle to get them. They’re going to be jabbing out their leader all the time. How many just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom? And that’s the scorner. They’re a severe critic. And they’re dealing in proud wrath, right? They never dealt with that. And, “Well, you got a little hurt over that.” “No, I’m not hurt.” “You know, I’m not mean.” “Okay, all right, you know, sure,” that type of thing. You understand where I’m coming from out there?
Sometimes it leads to rebellion. If I don’t deal with this inner stuff, it just leads to rebellion. You ever see sometimes a child that grew up in a Christian home? And by the way, Christian homes are wonderful. I’m so thankful. I grew up in a Christian home. And praise the Lord for these kids. I love to see kids coming to church and grow up in Christian homes. I love it. That’s the right way. I’m thankful. If it wasn’t growing up in a Christian home, so often it would be like a thousand times worse. Y’all are so quiet this morning. I know we’re dealing with a deep subject here, a tough subject. But I feel like it’s what God wants.
But can I just say this? I raised my kids in a Christian home, and they’ll say the same thing, and it’s totally right about it: Christian homes aren’t perfect. Christian homes have flaws. And if a child grows up in a Christian home and they were hurt in a major way, maybe by Dad, Mom, or whatever it may be, and they don’t deal with it. Sometimes you ever see a kid that grows up in a Christian home and then when he can graduate or whatever, he doesn’t want anything to do with Christianity at all? If it even remotely looks like Christianity, boom, they’re gone the other way. So often they’ve been hurt. I’ve got some wrath and it’s never been dealt with. And that wrath leads them just to rebellion. Maybe they got a hypocrite for a parent or a pastor or whatever it may be. And so they just rebel against it all.
By the way, parents, that’s why it’s very important. If we messed up, we all have. Just say, “You know, I think I’ve messed up there somewhere.” So why is saying, just nothing wrong with saying, “I’m sorry.” If you’re human, you’re going to have to say it every once in a while and be right with the Lord. You understand what I’m saying? I’m not trying to make excuses, and I’m not talking about being a victim. I use that word. Please don’t get the victim mentality. Don’t do that. We’re not trying to get you where, “Oh, I’ve got all these problems,” because we’re trying to get you where you’re growing beyond where you are. All right? But dealing with it, dealing with the hurt—that’s right—“Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
By the way, by the way, there are kids that grow up in a lot less Christian home and turn out good. And I say that because to say this: At the end of the day, that child is making their choice. Can I say this so often on this line? I am responsible for how I raised my children, how I raised that young lady right there. My son would just visit over there in Oregon. I’m responsible how I raised them. But they are responsible for what they do with it. Same home, as far as I can tell, sometimes raised the same, two siblings, and one takes it and grows, and one doesn’t. They’re responsible for their decisions. By the way, if you’re kind of along that line going on in your life, I would advise you to read Ezekiel 18, I believe it is. Am I right? Not now, but later on, amen. And you check that out: they’re responsible for their decisions. I am.
Let me just, since we’re going through all this, let me just tell you a story. Many of you have heard it many of the time because I feel like we need to deal with it because now there’s nothing like dealing with the hurt of a way we’re child. And I’m not trying to make you parents say everything’s your fault. That child is making their decision, they’re responsible for it. But I am trying to help us grow beyond where we are and help us raise you and maybe younger children and all that.
But an older lady brought her teenage—or maybe 18, 20-year-old—son down the aisle and down here at the invitation time. And you can tell he didn’t want to come forward. You know, Mom’s like dragging him down there, and he doesn’t want to come forward. It’s written all over him from head to toe: rebellion, rebellion, rebellion. And the mom gets the son down there, and the preacher comes down there to pray with him, and she’s crying, Mom, and says, “I don’t know what I did to make him turn out like this.”
And the preacher wisely said, “Ma’am, stop that.” She’s like, whoa, that’s not what she expected to hear. And he said, “Stop giving him an excuse for what he is doing. He’s the one that decided to live like that. And he’ll be responsible before the Lord.” I’m not trying to lead us to victim mentality, but I’m trying to teach us to deal with the wrath. Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going.
Look over in Romans chapter number 12, please. Romans chapter number 12 of God’s Word. Romans chapter number 12, Romans 12, and verse number 19. Romans 12 and verse number 19.
Y’all are awfully quiet this morning. We’re dealing with those deep things today a little bit, deep in our heart sometimes, you know. But I want you to fall asleep on the other hand, though, amen. Y’all still awake out there, amen? Brother Frank, did you say no? Brother Frank, did you say no? Brother Frank said, “Yeah.” Well, I thought I said, “No, we’re not awake.” I’m teasing with it.
Romans 12, look at verse number 19, if you would please. Romans 12, verse number 19. He says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves; but rather give place…” Isn’t it? Give place unto what? Wrath. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. But rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Now, here’s the thing. Instead of you—you’ve got this wrath inside of you, you’ve got a bruise, you’ve got an inner smoldering going on—you need to deal with it. Don’t just say, “Well, I’m all right.” No, you’re not all right. Deal with the thing. It may be a little journey God takes you through dealing with that often. And deal with that, but don’t say, “I’m going to show them what they did to me.” No, you’re going to pass a hurdle to other people. You give place to wrath. That place, you don’t just keep it there, you give place at the foot of the cross. It’s in the hands of the Lord. He’s a righteous judge. He never misses anything. He knows what’s going on. He… He’ll handle it all in His time, His way. Deuteronomy 32:4: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”
Can I say this? You take that wrath and you go to the cross and you put it there. We won’t have time to read it. It’s over in Exodus 15, but the children of Israel, they came to a place where the water was bitter. Marah, they called it. It was very bitter. And they couldn’t drink out of it. And God showed them what to do. They said, “What do I do? We’ve got bitter water. It’s hard to drink. It’s bitter. It’s poison.” Boy, bitterness and wrath, if you don’t deal with it, it’ll poison your life. Many people become defiled. What do you say? Remember what he said over there through Moses? What did he say? To go cut down a tree and put the tree in the water, and that tree will make that bitter water sweet or drinkable, if you will.
Now, what did that tree represent? It represented an old, rugged cross that the Savior was going to die on one day. Can I say to the Jehovah’s Witnesses? It was not a stake, amen. It was a cross. A wooden cross. And it wasn’t even tied there. The Bible says His hands were pierced. He was nailed to a cross. Did you take that wrath and you bring it to an old rugged cross?
You see, we live in a sin-messed-up world. I mean, it’s just totally messed up. I mean, there’s problems galore, hurt galore. You look out there at our time and you think, man, is there any hope? There is hope because of one thing: because of Jesus. And in this sin-messed-up world where we so often are hurting each other, and on our own we’re doomed to eternal hell to burn forever and ever to pay for our sin, God said, “I love those people so much. I’ll let my only begotten Son take all the iniquity of all the world and place it on him.”
Jesus took all the sins of eternity past, if you will, and mankind. He took all the sins of the future. And all these sins were laid on Jesus. He laid on him the iniquity of us all. And Jesus, he bore that sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us. Second Corinthians 5:21 talks about that. And he became that sin. It amazes me how God words that: He became sin for us. That means he became hate and murder and filth. He knew no sin, the Bible says—the purest, the righteous God Almighty on earth, and Jesus Christ, the pure, sinless one. He took our sin, and he bore it all on the cross. He took the judgment of our sin on him. He paid the penalty. Jesus said, “It is finished.” And God allowed—He watched. It pleased Him to watch His Son be bruised. And He did that because He loves you so much.
And we messed this world up. We can’t blame God. He made it perfect over there with Adam and Eve in the beginning. And we let Satan and sin into this world. We accepted that sin. We took the sin. We really are the ones who messed this world up. So, “Well, that was Adam. That was Eve.” No, you’ve sinned too. You’ve messed it up too. And so we messed this world up. And yet God let His only begotten Son shed His blood on the cross of Calvary. And through that, now we can go back to this perfect world, if you will—heaven—through Jesus. We can have a home with the Lord Jesus Christ. One day we will be back on earth, the thousand-year reign, and we will have a wonderful world. We’ll have the garden, the curse will be lifted during that time, if you go back to the Garden of Eden days, if you will. It will be a wonderful time.
I’m getting at this—this is what I’m trying to get at. After we messed up, we sin—every person here, all of us. God loves you so much. God said, “Yes, you’re going to go through a sin-cursed world that’s messed up. You’re going to have hurts and pain. But for all eternity, because I let my Son suffer and bleed on Calvary, for all eternity, you can spend eternity in heaven in a perfect place.” At one point there will be no more sorrow, no more tears, no more sadness. To be—that will be a wonderful thing. Why in the world do I get bitter now when I realize for all eternity I’ll be with Him? And it’s not His fault. And yet we get bitter and mad at Him.
You see, when I put the tree in there, it changes everything. When I realize He loves me so much, I don’t have to live in this messed-up world. He’s going to heal me one day. He’s going to make everything right one day. He knows and sees it all, and He’s adjusting right. God, and I want to bring everything to the cross. And that’s where changes are paid. I can’t properly bring it to the cross unless I admit something happened. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in victim mode. I want to bring it to the cross. Where’s that place of the cross? I bring it to the cross. He’s an omniscient God. He’s all-wise. You’re talking about the best counselor in all the world, and He knows you better than you know yourself.
I bring it to the cross, and He says so many different things often, but sometimes He’ll say, “Hey, look what all I have forgiven you for.” Yes, part of it’s forgiveness, yes. I follow the pattern of Jesus when they were literally crucifying Him. And what’s the first thing He said—seven saying utterances on the cross? “Father, forgive them.” He acknowledged it. He dealt with it. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And I follow His pattern. Yes, and healing comes after forgiveness, but I can’t forgive for something that didn’t happen. You bring your wrath to the cross.
And sometimes it’ll hurt when you deal with it, yes. Sometimes it’ll—sometimes it might even get a little worse before it gets better if something that’s been—that the sun’s been down on it many, many times. But so often that’s the path of healing.
You ever have a dog? Now, us men and our dogs, you know, come on, just shake your head at it. You know, I mean, come on now. You got that foo-foo dog of your own, you know. We got our little—we got our big dog outside. And I took Dixie out a month or two ago, I don’t know, a week or two ago, and she got something on her paw, and it was bleeding. And I came back over the porch. Man, she was getting blood all over the porch, you know. And it didn’t happen this time, but sometimes that dog, you know, they’ll walk with a limp for a week or two. And they can’t, you know, they try to get that thorn or whatever it is in their pads and their paws. They’ll try to get that. They can’t get it out of there, you know. And sometimes if you have a good relationship, and it’s a wise dog, sometimes, you know, you go over and you mess with—“You don’t mess with me. Don’t mess with my pads.” The dogs, you know, but sometimes that dog knows it needs to let you get it out.
And part of this giving place to wrath—you say, “I need to get this thing out of here.” And it’s going to hurt sometimes. But you take it and you give place to wrath. You let God deal with that in your life under the cross. And that’s one of the reasons why Jesus came. Jesus here speaking in Luke 4:18: “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 brokenhearted.” And when you bring that to Jesus, He can get the thorn out. Now, God in His time brings healing. He gets the infection out through the grace of God. You forgive, and over time you heal.
Now, I’ve got to wind this thing down. I’ve got to be finished. A few thoughts in one more verse when we’re done. What do I do while God is bringing healing? Maybe it’s wrath that’s been in there for years. We already went past “the sun’s gone down upon the wrath.” You need to deal with it. Bring it to the Lord. What do you do while you’re waiting for God’s healing? Don’t take it out on others. Swift to hear, slow to speak. Admit that you’re hurt, but trust God to bring healing. We’re not trying to play victim mode for the rest of my life. Don’t go into a shell. Let God and the people that God brings into your life help you in that. And then take your wound to the Lord.
One more verse. Would you look over in Psalm 62? Psalm 62. We’re going to be done. Psalm 62. Psalm 62. And I want you just see this one verse. We’ll read it and mention one part of it. Maybe one illustration, if the Lord would have it that way, we’ll be done. Psalm 62. Would you look in verse number eight? Psalm 62. Verse number eight. Psalm 62, verse number eight. When you find it, would you say amen? Psalm 62, look in verse number eight, if you would, very briefly there. He says, “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before him.” God is a refuge for us.
The ladies were singing this morning, “He’s a God in the valley.” You trust in Him in the valley. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him. By the way, usually a major hurt goes to your heart. You’re hurting your heart. What’s the last part? “God is a refuge for us.” That means in a tough time you’re getting shot at, the arrows are flying, you’ve got problems, you’ve got wounds—God is a refuge for us. And he says that word Selah. That has to do with you thinking about it. You contemplate what God’s trying to say here. Think this thing through for you.
You say, “Preacher, maybe it’s a divorce. Maybe it’s a death in your family of someone you love very much, but you say, ‘Man, I got a bruise and this went to my heart. What do I do?’” Well, we try to mention a lot of things, but can I say the Bible says, “Pour out your heart.” You say, “I can’t do that. Man, there’s some dirt in there.” God sees everything in your heart anyway. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Take the thing. Pour your heart out to the Lord.
There was a man years ago. He was in our church at the time. He’s moved away. Praise the Lord, he’s married now, got kids now, and he’s been doing well. But he had a major issue happen in his life one night, just an awful, awful night. And he just really could not get past that night in so many ways. An awful thing, and he had been to different people over the years. He came to me and talked. He said, “Man, I can’t get past this thing.” He said, “Anyway…” So I said, “Look, brother, praise the Lord, you came. You’re opening up about it, but would you do this? Would you go somewhere and get far away from everybody? And I want you to relive that night with the Lord. Everything that happened that night, how you felt about it that night, how you heard about that night, how it affected you—I want you to take every bit of it to the Lord. And I want you to literally pour your heart out to the Lord about that thing.”
Praise the Lord, I think he did that. He had been to counselors, he had been to other preachers and all these things, and some of them are great people. But nobody can do for you what the Lord does. And when he poured his heart out to the Lord, God began to heal and grow. Praise the Lord. Does he have issues still? Yes, but he’s married in a good marriage and kids and so on. Pour—see, I got some wrath going on—pour your heart out to the Lord.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes this morning? Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? You hear this morning, and I just word it this way: “God spoke to my heart.” Somewhere along the line, some way, God spoke to my heart. That’s me. Whether you need to deal with some things, whatever it may be. “God spoke to my heart this morning.” That’s you. You just slip your hand up. “Preacher, God spoke to my heart this morning.” That’s you, you just slip it up. “Me too, me too.” Oh, God bless you, friend. God bless your friend. God bless your friend. To hate or to hurt is to be human. It’s to be human, friend. Let’s just take all these things, and maybe God spoke to you a different way, but let’s just take these things to the cross this morning.
You know, it’s a sad thing. Thank you so very much for putting your hands up. But there have been times I’ve heard other people, and I—oh, my goodness—I ask you, apologize and take it to the Lord, though. Wherever you’re at, wherever you’re at, God spoke to your heart. Would you bring it to the cross this morning? Maybe you’re there this morning and say, “Preacher, I need to get to the cross for my salvation. I need to trust in Jesus and Jesus alone to pay for my sin debt.” Every person in this world has sins. They have sin debts. Whether it be what people would say bigger or little, we’ve all got some sin debts. And the only thing that will take care of that bitterness, that sin that we all have committed, is the cross.
If you’re here this morning, you say, “I need to get saved.” I encourage you. I would love to be a help. We’re going to stand and pray in just a moment. When we say amen, there will be men come and stand down front, a man in the back. Would you go to them and just shake their hand? If you need to get saved, you let them know that. They’ll take you through the Bible and show you from the Bible how you can know for sure your sins are gone, Jesus is taking those sins away, and you’ve got a home in heaven, you’re a child of God. If you’re already saved, hey, you’ve got some wrath or maybe however God spoke to your heart, would you come? Just spend some time with the Lord? Just spend some time. Would you do that? Would you just bring them all to Jesus?
Hey, friend, He longs for you to draw near to Him. He longs for that. He loves it. He’s the only one. He’s a great physician that could bring true healing to your life. Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We’ll have order of prayer. Don’t be bashful. Don’t be shy. God’s dealing. He’s tugging on your heartstrings. Would you come? Just draw near to God. Get close to Him this morning. Would you do that? Would you do that? Need to get saved? You come shaking one of these men’s hands. We would love—we would love to be thrilled to help you in that this morning.
Let’s pray. Would you come? Thank you, Father, for your word. It’s full of wisdom. I wish I knew it better. It’s amazing. Lord, help us to take the truths we learned this morning, help us to grow from them. Help us to be the men, the ladies, that are growing in you and helping others and part of your healing process. Help us to bring it all to you in the cross. Thank you, Father, for the cross. Thank you, Jesus. Help us to bring all our issues to you. Cast our care upon you at this time. We’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do in Jesus. Let me pray. Amen.
Would you come? Just spend some time with the Lord as we sing. Don’t wait for anybody else. God spoke to your heart. Would you talk? Just be some time with the Lord. Right, that’s right. Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares. He cares. Give place to wrath. Where’s that? At the foot of the cross. Oh, give place to that. He’s a great physician. Draw near to Him. Wherever you’re standing, just draw near to Him. Get close to Him.
Original File: How to handle hurt - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 09252022