Jeremiah 10:19
Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
Everyone will have to deal with hurt, and often the hurt leaves a wound instead of a scab, but you must learn to bear whatever the hurt is in your life. God never said where the hurt will come from, but He did say that we will have hurt that we must bear. Sometimes, the hurts of life are of our own doing, but we must learn to bear it. Sadly, there are times when the hurts of life are because of what others have done to us, but we must learn to bear it.
The word bear means to manage it, or learn to bear it. Pain management doctors help people that carry physical pain to learn how to manage their pain so they can live. God is saying that just like a doctor helps a person in physical pain to learn to manage their physical pain so they can live, so you must learn to manage the inner pain so that you can learn to live for God. Most often inner pain is worse than physical pain because you cannot take drugs to dull inner pain, but God says that you must learn to bear it. Let me share several thoughts this verse is teaching the believer.
First, I must bear it means it is a command to manage it. God never gives a command that He does not give the wherewithal to do it. Likewise, God never puts more on you than you can bear; therefore, whatever inner hurts you carry, you can bear them. It is not a choice to manage them; it is a command to manage and bear them.
Second, you can let the inner hurts manage you or you can learn with God's help to manage the inner hurts so you can live for Him. If you don't accept the inner hurts that have come your way, they will manage your life, but if you accept God’s command to find a way to bear those hurts, you can manage the pain.
Third, the inner hurt may never heal, but I must learn to bear it. Notice that God uses the word wound. In other words, the hurt will likely stay an open wound, but you can still learn to live with it.
Fourth, I have no choice; this will stay with me. At some point, you must accept this hurt is not going to leave you. It has conquered you if you shut down until it leaves. It takes determination not to let the inner hurts that will never heal not to conquer you, but you can conquer the hurt and live for God if you are determined to do so.
Fifth, I must not let it cause me to stop. Life goes on whether or not your hurt or wound heals; therefore, you cannot let it stop you. Any time you stop to sulk on inner hurts and wounds is time that God cannot use them to help others. You must learn how to manage these hurts so that they don't cause you to stop because of their pain.
So, how do we manage the pain of inner hurts that won’t heal? Psalm 16:11 shows us when it says, Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. To be at the right hand of God means to get in the yoke with Him, and when I get in the yoke with Him, my burden becomes His burden that He helps me to carry. My friend, this is the secret to managing and bearing the pain of the wounds of inner hurts. Take your burdens to God in prayer, stay in the yoke of service with Him, and He will help you to manage the pain that inner hurts cause by helping you lift the load.
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