ChosenRebel's Blog

¹ Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel,
You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!
² Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, 
stir up Your power
And come to save us!

Psalm 80:1-2

Sleep has been difficult the past week. The burdens being borne by the pastors I am caring for have taken their toll on me. When I think of some of these men, especially the one who called me yesterday, and the hurting people they shepherd, I know their burden. And I know their sorrow.

It is an axiom in counseling, “Hurting people, hurt people.”

Many of these men have been hurt by people who are broken and refuse to come to the Healer for the help they desperately need. And because they will not come to Him, they are not healed and continue in their sorrows and pour it into all around them, extending their pain like a fast-growing cancer. I don’t have enough words for this pastor’s sorrow.

When Broken People Break

Oh, how we hurt, and how we hurt.
We lose our peace by pieces,
and inherit bitterness with the pain,
for the hurt we dispense,
and never leave behind.

We increase our sorrows
by the pain we inflict
and the sorrows of others,
join us by dysfunction and conflict.

Blinded by our passions,
we lose the path of the Pilgrim
and forget from where our help comes.
Leaky souls empty quickly,
and fill up but slowly.

Emptied, they shout hollow words
of love and hate out of pain
that shatters the living
who speak and hear injury’s echo
and continue the sorrow to a new generation.

Such is the way of all flesh.
We break and break others.
In unending cycles of grief,
uncomprehending, we melt inside
and drift through life like an outgoing tide.

Pray for me.
Pray for these men.
Pray that I would be wise.
Pray that we would be steadfast, fixed on the power of Christ and the gospel to bring healing.

We cannot afford to trust in ourselves.