Have you ever been hurt so badly by someone that you’ve written off any future relationships that may look the same?
The truth is that none of us are made from steel, and we all get hurt in life. However, if we don’t address our emotional wounds, we will never become whole and live in the freedom that Jesus purchased for us on the cross.
Living with an open emotional (or spiritual) wound is just like living with a physical one. If you don’t get it treated, it can fester.
And anytime someone accidentally bumps into it, the pain goes deep for you and can seem like an overreaction to everyone else. Ultimately, you can end up bitter, living in shame, self-punishment or even self-sabotaging. The effects of an emotional wound can only be band-aided up for so long, so how do you get breakthrough in this area?
WRESTLING WITH HEALING
So often we’re okay with praying for physical healing but how often do we invite God in to heal our emotional wounds?
I remember when I first started learning about God’s heart for healing I came to a point where I really had to wrestle with God.
I don’t know if I would say I was angry with God, but I was really struggling. I remember not being able to reconcile what I knew about God and His ability and desire to heal, but not seeing those close to me experience breakthrough. And the pain I saw was not only physical but emotional too.
In this place, God spoke to me about one of the weirdest miracles in the Bible and revealed some very much needed insight at the time.
WHO’S BEEN SPITTING ON YOU?
Let’s look at this healing story from John 9. I know it’s long but Jesus literally uses spit to heal a man so I think you’ll want to read this: “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.’ When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.” (John 9:1-7)
All Jesus had to do to heal somebody was to speak a word. However, in this story, Jesus healed by spitting! Why do you think He went through all of this drama?
In my wrestling, God asked me to re-read the story and highlighted to me that the disciples connected the man’s born blindness with his own sin or his parents’ sin. Under the old covenant, people who served false gods were cursed by their children being born blind. (Deuteronomy 28:28)
In Jewish culture at the time, when people saw a child born blind it was assumed that they were cursed for serving other gods. As a little boy, the blind man was likely spat on whenever he walked down the street.
Can you imagine a life of being spit on and cursed your whole life? Maybe you can’t relate to the spit, but what about hurtful words that were spoken over you, or a wound that started at a young age?
When Jesus healed by spitting, he used the thing that the world used to curse the man his whole life to heal him…. He did this as an emotional and spiritual restoration!
Jesus healed the man wholly and tri-dimensionally (spirit, soul and body). The man walked because he got physically healed, he leaped because he got emotionally healed, and he praised God because he got spiritually restored! (Acts 3:6-8)
So what does this story of Jesus spitting in order to heal someone have to do with you today?
God wants you to be whole, not just well! And He can use the very area that’s caused you the most pain to bring redemption and healing to your life.
WHEREVER YOU HURT IS WHERE GOD WANTS TO HEAL YOU
The very area that has caused you pain is often times the very area that God wants to heal in you, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually too! Just as we see in this story, God is a Redeemer of all things and He knows what we need better than we even know.
The blind man asked for physical healing, that he might see again. However, what Jesus had in store, even though it looked crazy, was exactly what the man needed to receive wholeness instead of just a partial healing. Who knew that spit could be so powerful?
So my question for you today is this: what areas of your life do you need healing in that are so painful that you may even reject the very thing you need in order to heal?
MY FATHER WOUND HURT LIKE CRAP
I had a father wound from my childhood because my dad died when I was three years old. Then I had two stepfathers who were extremely abusive (thankfully one of them changed their ways). Do you know what healed me from those wounds?
Yes, it was the love of God. But what was also impactful for me was the love of God experienced through spiritual fathers in my life. Fatherly love is what actually healed that father wound. You could say that spiritual fathers were my equivalent of a spit healing.
If you were hurt by your mother then it’s very possible that God will use spiritual mothers (or maybe even your actual mother) to heal you. If you’ve been burned by community then I can imagine it would be too painful to let friends into that place in a vulnerable way. I’m telling you that many times the thing it will take to heal that wound is true friendship.
I know it’s easy to read something like this and just keep going with your day. But I want to challenge you right now to stop and think about the area in your life that may hurt the most. Then, ask Holy Spirit to show you how Jesus would want to use that very thing to bring freedom, healing, and restoration in your life.
When God brings the very thing you need around, take a risk and be vulnerable. Let that relationship heal the wound, and even when it’s scary choose to lean into love and into emotional healing. Remember that God is Redeemer of all things! There’s nothing in your life that is too messy, too big, too painful, too scary or even too ugly for Him to make whole!
Have you ever been through your own “spit healing”? Or are you still in need of that today? How has God worked to heal your emotional wounds in the past? I’d love to hear your thoughts and testimonies in the comments below!
