I've seen and heard the term a lot lately. Generally, it's been used in referring to therapeutic situations or maybe in one on one counseling sessions. It deals with those who have been through one traumatic experience or another, now helping others survive a similar devastation.
Wounded Healer.
It's an apt description. Someone who bears the scars of injury may be the best qualified to speak into the lives of those currently afflicted. The suffering involved may be due to financial, relational, emotional or health related issues. Those on the other side of such physical/spiritual conflicts can often share valuable insight from their own lessons learned and their healing process.
After all, experience is a great teacher, right? Ask Job! I'm pretty sure that if he could speak to us today, he'd have loads to tell us about getting through trials. Even those with self-inflicted wounds can – once healed again – be trustworthy, well-credentialed guides through stormy waters. A sympathetic ear and an empathetic heart. A wounded healer.
But, it occurs to me that there's one wounded healer who bears the scars of the sinfulness of all humanity, not his own. A vicarious substitute for the self-absorbed waywardness of all of us. And here's the catch: he did it willingly. He endured all this brokenness so we could be whole; he committed himself to separation from the Father so we could be completely restored.
The ultimate Wounded Healer. Here's his story:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:3-6 NIV)
Did you notice the number of times the words he, him and his are laid against the words our, we and us?
God help us if we ever lose sight of that.
--Click here for more helpful articles from writer/arranger/director Marty Parks on the topics of spiritual development and music ministry.