Every scar tells a story…

It’s finally Friday… and I’m pastor James St. John.

I have a scar on the back of my head. You may have seen it. It’s been there 49 years. I still remember the day and the event that birthed that scar. A group of neighborhood boys had been playing some form of “cops and robbers” for what seemed like hours. Most of us had cap guns…not the wimpy plastic cap guns that can be found at Dollar General or Dollar Tree, today. I’m talking about K-Mart level cap gun, made of metal with a molded plastic handle that was held together by metal rivets. You might not be old enough to remember those guns, but they usually came paired with a fake leather holster and a metal marshal badge.

Anyway, you’ll understand the importance of the gun and the material from which it was made in a moment.

During said game of cops and robbers, I darted around the corner of my house and was confronted by one of the robbers. We drew our metal cap guns, pulled the triggers, yelling, “Pow! Pow!” to accentuate the exploding caps and dove to the ground to avoid being “shot.” The smell of burnt gun powder filled the air, and so did the tension of the moment.

The robber’s name was Billy. Really, it was. And I had him dead to rights. In spite of that fact, however, Billy popped up and cried, “I got you! I got you! You’re dead!” He was obviously mistaken.

“No, you didn’t get me. I got you, Billy!”

“No, you didn’t!”

“Yes, I did!”

“No!”

“Yes!” I yelled, turning around to dart back around the corner to the front of the house, whooping in victory.

At that moment, I felt a searing pain across the back of my head and my whooping in victory melted into cries of pain. You see, Billy was a robber, and robbers lie, cheat, steal…and throw their metal cap guns at the cop’s head to prove they’re not dead.

To make an already long story short, the Summer evening of fun ended with me at the ER receiving four stitches to close the wound opened by said cap gun.

Every scar tells a story.

Some scars are visible, like the one on the back of my head…or, the one above my right eye that tells the story of a kid jumping on a couch and diving into a coffee table at his grandparent’s house at the age of six…or, the 7-inch scar on top of my knee cap that is external evidence of a 45-year-old man who had a 75-year-old knee (at least that’s what the surgeon told me) that was replaced. Visible.

Other scars aren’t so visible. Those scars are birthed through trauma, sometimes acute, even single events, but more often chronic and complex (prolonged domestic violence, emotional and sexual abuse, and neglect, for example). These scars tell tragic and painful stories that are difficult to tell…and hear.

These are the stories of the brokenhearted…and the crushed in spirit. These stories often extend across years of anguish and pain…depression and anxiety…self-medication…addiction…isolation and fear…

Do you know those stories? That may be the stories that your scars continue to tell.

Would it surprise you to learn that the Bible has much to say about those who have experienced trauma? I’m going to list a few scriptures that the Lord can use to provide some level of comfort and assurance to a reader that is carrying scars and stories that continue to haunt and challenge, but I want to focus on a single scripture, right now.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

Psalm 34 is a psalm of David. I’m not sure of exactly when it is written, but it is known to have been written about the time when David was being pursued by Saul and he fled to take refuge among the Philistines. He was heartbroken and crushed in spirit. He was reduced to acting like he had lost his mind to preserve his life…some are left to wonder if he was really acting, or if he had suffered a genuine breakdown of some kind. Whatever the case, looking back on that time, David recognizes the goodness of the God who preserved his life and fulfilled his promise to be his refuge in the midst of and deliverance from times of trouble. David bore the scars of trauma. In many of the psalms he wrote, those scars tell their stories. Psalm 34 is one of those psalms.

Are you brokenhearted and crushed in spirit?

The Lord is near. He has neither condemned you or abandoned you. His grace is sufficient. His mercy is everlasting. He willing and able to save.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are in crisis, please seek help. Reach out to a trusted friend. Reach out to your pastor. Freedom Church wants you to find the resources you need for healing and recovery. Celebrate Recovery is available to help those who have hurts, habits and hangups that can be healed with God’s help. Our pastor, Tim Thomas, and others with Milledgeville Christian Counseling are available, and are willing to connect you with other resources you might need. You need not go it alone. God never intends us to do that.

Now, those scriptures I promised:

• Isaiah 30:20-21 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
• 1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
• Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
• Philippians 4:5b-7 The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
• 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
• Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
• James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
• John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
• Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
• Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
• 1 Peter 1:6-7 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
• James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
• Romans 5:3-5 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
• Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
• Psalm 30:5b Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
• Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
• 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
• 2 Chronicles 16:9a For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 
• Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
• Phil 1:6 being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
• Matthew 7:24-25 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.