60 Seconds – Wounded

The late C. M. Ward, in one of his Revivaltime sermons called, “Bruised,” quoted the following letters from a child, then from a lady facing divorce.

The child wrote, “Our mother drinks. I don’t mean just a cocktail at parties. I mean all by herself–during the afternoon. Sometimes the woman next door comes in, and they get drunk together. When my sisters and I come home from school, Mom is usually in terrible shape. Most days, she doesn’t make the beds or clean the house. We have to do the housework, or it doesn’t get done. Then I go to the market and beg for credit, so I can have dinner on the table when Dad comes home…Please help us.”

The woman in divorce court was described by her lawyer as, “haggard and overthin from loss of sleep and food, her eyes dimmed and rimmed with red because there were no more tears, quivering and shaken, although not a finger had been laid on her.”

Reverend Ward then asked his worldwide radio audience, “Are you that woman? Are you a living, tormented, bruised soul?”

Question: Have you been wounded? Husbands and wives can wound viciously in their marriage relationship.

Parents can wound their children. David cut Absalom to heart because of his illicit relationship with Bathsheba, a wound that some believe Absalom never did recover from. Growing more resentful and bitter, he sought to destroy his own repentant father. Sadly, as is often the case, he only destroyed himself.

Children wound their parents. Esau deliberately married young ladies against his parents wishes, and we read in Genesis 26:35, “And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.”

The family relationships can bring deep wounds, as was the case with Joseph and the cruel treatment of his brothers. Sadly, some of the deepest wounds can take place within the church walls!

In Luke 4:18, Christ declared of Himself, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has…sent Me to heal the brokenhearted…to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

A man who had been severely wounded by others, yet was restored, gave this testimony, “I just crept to the feet of Jesus, and greatly, to my astonishment, He did not scold me – He knew I had been scolded enough. He did not pity me, and He did not give me advice, either. He just put His arms around my neck and loved me. I was a new man!”

Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”