Worship Wednesday: The Worshipping Wounded

This week has been quite exhausting. Yesterday, I had so many thoughts that I wanted to share, but exhaustion kept me from being able to make any sense of those thoughts swirling around in my head. So, I'm a little late with this post, but I wanted to share it with you anyways.

God has been speaking to me lately about healing and deliverance. That is not really surprising, considering all that I have been going through, and I have really needed His timely messages to keep me going. This past week, God has been talking to me about worshipping when I am wounded, and today, I want to share that message with you. 

We've all been wounded at one time or another. I don't mean physically wounded; I mean deeply, emotionally wounded. If you haven't been wounded like that, then I would seriously doubt that you have actually lived. I would argue that unless you live in a vacuum, you bear the scars of wounds that were inflicted, either intentionally or unintentionally, by people you love and care about.

 The problem with us wounded human beings is that we pass on the "disease." When we suffer from deep emotional wounds, we tend to lash out and wound the ones we are close to (whether they are the ones who wounded us or not). Most of the time, we don't even realize how deeply we are wounded and how deeply we have wounded others. It is a vicious cycle, and there is only one cure:

WORSHIP

Richard Foster says this about worship in his book, Celebration of Discipline:

"One reason that worship should me considered a spiritual discipline is because it is an ordered way of acting and living that sets us before God so he can transform us."

If there is one thing that we need as wounded human beings, it is transformation. We need the Lord to step in and transform our wounds into a witness! By worshipping in our wounded condition, we set ourselves before Him, lift up our broken hearts, and say, "Lord, I believe that You are good and You are able to heal and transform!" Worshipping wounded is a deliberate act of faith that liberates us!

Many times, I believe that our wounds are a result of drifting from fellowship with the Lord. I know that when my struggles are the greatest and I feel the sting of open wounds, most of the time, it is because I have let my relationship with Him slide down on my list of priorities. God loves us so much that when we have drifted, He will allow us to be wounded afresh, so that we might turn back to Him and seek the healing He provides. Hosea 6:1-3 offers us the assurance that God will heal us of those wounds if we bring our hearts before Him in worship once again.

Hosea 6:1-3 ESV

 ¹"Come, let us return to the LORD;

   for he has torn us, that he may heal us;

   he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

²After two days he will revive us;

   on the third day he will raise us up,

   that we may live before him.

³ Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;

    his going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

   as the spring rains that water the earth."

One of the things that I struggle with the most is waiting for my healing to come. Healing is a process, but as humans in this fast paced society, we want immediate results. I have heard it said that we often want a "microwave God" who offers "slow-cooker results." I can totally relate to that statement. For me, the waiting is that hardest part. When I am doing the right things and seeking after God, I get frustrated when I still feel my wounds, and many times, I drift away from Him again as I search for healing on my own. This only further aggravates our wounds and prolongs the healing process.

We have a choice to make: We can turn to the Lord in worship and lay our wounded hearts before Him, believing and waiting for His healing touch, or we can keep seek healing through makeshift bandages that temporarily ease the pain, but never fix the problem. I want to choose complete healing no matter how long it may take!!

Psalm 27: 4-14 ESV 

 ⁴ One thing have I asked of the LORD,
   that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
   all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
   and to inquire in his temple. 

 ⁵For he will hide me in his shelter
   in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
   he will lift me high upon a rock.

⁶And now my head shall be lifted up

 above my enemies all around me,

   and I will offer in his tent

sacrifices with shouts of joy.

   I will sing and make melody to the LORD. 

 ⁷ Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
   be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸You have said, "Seek my face."My heart says to you,
   "Your face, LORD, do I seek."

 ⁹ Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
   O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
    O God of my salvation!
¹⁰For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
   but the LORD will take me in. 

 ¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD,
   and lead me on a level path
   because of my enemies.
¹² Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
   for false witnesses have risen against me,
   and they breathe out violence.

¹³I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
   in the land of the living!
¹⁴ Wait for the LORD;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
   wait for the LORD!

Worship Song of the Day:

You'll Come -Hillsong United

Worship...Wait...and Be Transformed!