» In Love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve.

This title bears repeating and for me stirs up many conversations with my Lord, how about you?  American Playwright and Novelist Thornton Niven Wilder (1897-1975) wrote a play called, “The Angel that Troubled the Waters,”  which is loosely based on John 5:1-4, the story of the pool of Bethesda.  The play tells of a physician who comes periodically to the pool of Bethesda, hoping to be the first in the water and be healed of his melancholy …when the angel appears and troubles the water.  Everyone at the pool hopes to be the first in the water and thereby be healed of their difficulties.   The moment the physician is ready to step into the pool, the angel appears and blocks his entry.  And the angel says to him,”Without your wound, where would your power be?  It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men.  The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living.  In Love’s Service, only wounded soldiers can serve.   Draw Back.” 

Though this is a dramatization yes, it does bring me to musing about what the angel has said and causes me to think about brokenness and how God uses brokenness.  Oftentimes in our current culture we are all about counseling, healing, forgetting and moving on.  And while I agree that God does have amazing Biblical healing for His children, brought forth through His Word (Psalm 107:20),  perhaps we might not want to be so quick to forget, so quick to move on.  Even our physical traumas leave scars that tell of a past event and often bring an opportunity to share that event with others…what about the emotional traumas of past events in our lives?

In Revelations 12:11 it says, “And they overcame him (Satan) by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony and they did not love their lives unto death.”  Wow, do you find it amazing that God holds up the words of testimony along side of the Blood of His Son?  This verse beautifully ties into what I think Thornton was saying in this excerpt from his play.  When we see the unhealed and broken areas of our lives as negative, unusable and a detriment…perhaps there is more to the story.

Joseph when addressing his family who had sold him into slavery said, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.”  Genesis 50:20.  Oh that we would have such a response.  God does say in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Will you trust God to bring this about in every area of your life…past, present and the things to come?  Will you allow God to redeem them and to use them for His purposes and Glory?

As we seek the Lord for healing from past events that have left us bruised and broken, might we also see that they can be used by God for the benefit of others.  The traumas of life and past sin left unhealed are generally kept hidden away and belong only to us and are held secretly within our prison walls…but the traumas of life and past sin that are brought to God and are healed, forgiven, redeemed… these belong to God and are brought forth in our testimonies and can help others to overcome not only Satan but their past hurts as well.

So as we press on in life, let us be glad and rejoice in the wholeness that Christ has brought about in our lives.  But as we do this, let us not forget that we have suffered… that we have cried…that we have healed…that we have sinned…that we have been forgiven!  Let these things bring out in us, the compassion and the love needed in the service of our Lord.

In Love’s Service, only wounded soldiers can serve…and serve Him we will.