Hanningfield Green 

Lawshall 

Bury St Edmunds 

Suffolk 

IP29 4QD 

Just A Thought

The Lebanese American writer, poet, visual artist, and philosopher, Khalil Gibran said, “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” Though it should probably be said that pain ‘can be’ rather than ‘is’ the breaking of the shell, as there are different responses to pain such that the benefit that Khalil indicates isn’t always experienced.

However, I guess we can all agree that in one form or another, this life comes with pain. Perhaps today our heart is heavy; something or someone has broken our heart: maybe a relationship breakdown, betrayal, loss of a job, a situation we feel trapped in, a long-term illness or loss of a loved one, and as a result we may have lost hope. Sometimes, well-meaning friends can say the wrong things, inadvertently rubbing salt in our wounds.

It is said that time heals all wounds: Is that true? Probably not. But there is one wound that God has promised to heal through the Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist King David testified of God that He does not despise ‘a broken and contrite spirit’ (Psalm 51v17). Jesus declared, ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5 v 4).

But mourning and broken by what? Simply by an understanding that we have gone our own way, rejected the Person who made, sustains, and loves us the most, and the purpose for which He made us, which amongst other things is fellowship with Him. And it can often be physical or emotional pain that ‘breaks the shell’ and brings us to this understanding. It is declared of Jesus that He would be ‘wounded and bruised for our sins, and by His stripes we are healed’ (Isaiah 53 v 5). Because of that, anyone who comes to Him in repentance and faith can have their broken relationship with Him restored. ‘Come unto Me, all that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11v28)