The Elephant in the Room – Your Wound – Purity 1366
Purity 1366 06/04/2024 Purity 1366 Podcast
Purity 1366 on YouTube: Coming Soon!
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a baby elephant on the shores of a small pond comes to us from yours truly as I captured this wild scene while on vacation in the safe confines of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park back on February 20th, earlier this year.
Well, It’s Tuesday, and as I am in continuous motion from one thing to the next because of work, ministry, or my second marriage “blended family” two household existence, I sometimes forget and am amazed at the sheer adventure that I live now because I have decided to follow Jesus. Our new life in Christ is not just something to be “believed” but is truly meant to “Be lived” and if the word “boredom” describes your walk of faith, I would have to admonish you that “you’re not doing it, right!”
But hey, Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, so please don’t take that as a criticism because I mean it as an encouragement for you take as an invitation to seek the Lord and to “DO Something” to help you to discover the new abundant life that you have available to you when Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
Of course, discovering the new life in Christ may cause you some discomfort as you have to not only look at the man in the mirror and get real with God, but you may have to deal with “the elephant” in the room of your unresolved spiritual and personal conflicts from the past – otherwise known as your “wound”, or “wounds” plural, because in this world broken by sin with our propensity to do things our way, based on our limited understanding, we will undoubtedly suffer at the hands or others or by our own sinful and selfish choices. “Hurt people hurt people” after all and there is no shortage of pain in this world.
But the good news is that we know the Healer and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who can bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free!
Last night, I attended a Wild at Heart book study Men’s group, where the topic of the evening was “The Wound” and where I had the privilege of witnessing some very brave Christian men decide to be real and deal with the “elephants” in their living rooms that would seldom normally be talked about. John Eldredge’s book informs us that a core need for a man’s development is to be affirmed in their masculinity by other men, traditionally their father, and to be assured that they “have what it takes” – that they are seen as significant and capable as men. When men don’t receive this affirmation or are specifically told in subtle or not so subtle ways that they don’t have what it takes, – they suffer “a wound” to their hearts as men which will cause them to respond in a number of healthy or unhealthy ways depending on the agreements, or vows, they make in response to their wounds.
Eldredge uses the example of Teddy Roosevelt as someone who responded to his lack of affirmation to go out and seek his male initiation through his own efforts – with good results as Roosevelt was known for his acts of heroism in the face of danger and his ability to lead men and his country through difficult times. So the “wound” could cause us to do good things when we see it as wrong and when we pursue righteousness but more often than not the “wound” will limit us in ways driving us to addictions or to be emotionally unavailable and all the “self-help efforts” in the world will fall short in dealing with the heart of the issue.
But that’s where Jesus comes in. He cures the brokenhearted after all and when we surrender to His Lordship, grieve our wound by taking it to Him with all honesty, freely receive His love, and forgive others (or ourselves) as we have been forgiven, our hearts can be healed of the pain of the past and a new life emerges from the ashes of our brokenness.
Last night, I shared a bunch of my testimony to show that God can save us, heal us, and set us free, and I was really encouraged by how the other men in the group opened up and shared stories from their lives about the pains they had suffered and learned from. In a couple of hours, a group of relative strangers became a band of brothers in a sense as we took the opportunity before us to be vulnerable with one another and to encourage one another to face our wounds and continue in this journey of faith and wholeness.
If you have an elephant in your room that you have been ignoring, I recommend talking to God and asking Him for the healing that He can bring. I would recommend Neil Anderson’s The Steps to Freedom in Christ as the means to prayerful repentance and cleaning house spiritually, but Eldredge’s Wild at Heart for men, and Captivating, for the ladies, has also been known to help people to take their wounds to God and to be healed- showing us that it doesn’t really matter what method you use to get right with God and to receive your healing – it only matters that you seek the Lord and ask Jesus to help you to forgive, receive forgiveness, and to heal.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Depression.
Psalm 42:1-11 (NASB)
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.
6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Today’s verses fall under the fifth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Depression.
5. Put your hope in God when you are downcast.
Today’s verses deserves a larger commentary than I have time for this morning but I would point to the highlighted verse, verse 5, in this Psalm to impress upon those who may be suffering from depression to “HOPE in GOD” – as He is the eternal One that does not change, that is truly good, and who would call you to know who you are in Christ and to be set free! Stop looking at the world and all of its pain and brokenness, Hope in God and look to Him because He transcends this world and offers us a life of joy and peace in presence that never ends. So seek the Lord and Hope in God!
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is available online for less than $10 at many sites.
EVENING READING: ROMANS 9
“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose
I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you,
and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’”
–Romans 9:17
“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”11
God’s purposes must be fulfilled, and He sometimes uses the very vessels of wrath to accomplish His great plans.
The apostle Paul illustrates this fact in referring to Pharaoh. Pharaoh was a vessel of wrath – one who did not fear God. But even so, God used him to accomplish His designs. For through Pharaoh, God demonstrates His power, thus making known His Name throughout all the earth. If God can use a vessel such as Pharaoh, how much more can He use a vessel sanctified and ready for the Master’s use!
Make me a sanctified and ready vessel, Lord![1]
—————————more tomorrow————————
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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