ACT 2: WATCH

Blogging Genesis 42-44

 

Spiritual healing is a story of emancipation.  It is the process of becoming free from old hurt.

Jesus, quoting Isaiah, used the language of healing and liberation as if the two were synonymous. 

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”  (Luke 4: 18, 19)

Imagine your emotional pain as a chain locked around your legs. 

You need the key, and the key is the TRUTH. 

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (Jesus, John 8:31, 32).

This is why so much of successful psycho-therapy involves inquiry into the past.   The unique key to your psycho-spiritual shackles is “your truth.” YOUR truth is the truth of the specific trauma that wounded you.  That truth is (as all truths are) a story, a story told in 3 acts.

The 1^st Act is LISTENING.  Insane as it may sound, listen to the people who hurt you.  Hear  what they think about what they did.  That is their “truth.”  Joseph heard remorse in his brothers’ candid confessions.  What you hear may surprise you and grant you some relief. 

It’s at least equally likely, though, that your tormentors’ truth won’t be comforting.  Maybe they thought they were doing the right thing.  Maybe they thought they had no other choice.  Maybe, they thought hurting you was hilarious and they never cared about your feelings.   The key to healing isn’t comfort.  The key is truth.

Listen to their truth and listen to your own.   Weave their story together with yours, and, though the perspectives conflict with each other, you’ll be a third of the way to healing.   

Act  1:  Listen.

ACT 2:  WATCH.

Listening is about past truth.  Watching is about the present. 

Look at your life and at the life of your offendors. Don’t assume that they are just like they were nor that they have changed.  See the truth of them and you as you are now.

In Genesis chapters 42-44, Joseph observed his brothers.  He watched Simeon, waiting in Egyptian custody.  He noticed how his brothers dealt with having their grain money mysteriously reappear in their bags (Genesis 42:25 – 28).  Joseph saw how they kept the difficult promise to bring Benjamin with them when they came back to Egypt.  Joseph saw that his brothers were now honorable men who took good care of their dad and who would give up their own lives to save their baby brother.

Joseph saw that they were not now who they used to be.

Present truth isn’t always pleasant as what Joseph saw.  But, it is truth, not pleasantries, that will set you free.

The truth of them and the truth of you.

The length, breadth, depth, and reach of your world has changed.  The people and things that dominated your life then do not occupy the same space in your now.  Let go of the “I’ve always been” and “I’ve never been able to” and just LOOK at you now. 

Joseph wasn’t still the arrogant teen tattle-tale.  He wasn’t just a little brother.  He was more than a spoiled son.  He wasn’t a slave or a prisoner.  Even his dreams were different.  He used to dream of making his family bow down before him.  Now his ambition was to fulfill his God-given purpose and save his family.

The old hurt sat very small on the state of his present truth.

Your world now is NOT defined by what they did to you.  You may feel like it is.  You may act like it is.  But it isn’t.  Look around.  See how much more exists, how much more is possible.  You may not see it yet.  That’s O.K.

Watch.  You will. 

--Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama. He writes a blog called A Word to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com

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