The Walking Wounded

This phrase, “the walking wounded” came into my mind one day, and it stayed with me for a while. I had some idea of what it meant, but not entirely, so I Googled it to find its meaning. And I found these definitions:

• “People who have been injured in a battle or major accident but who are still able to walk” (Google).

• “People who are injured, especially in a psychological or spiritual way, but still functional” (Dictionary.com).

• “Injured persons who are of a relatively low priority” (wikipedia.com). 

I believe what the Lord wanted me to see from this, and/or for us to see, is that “the walking wounded” are defined by all three of these definitions. 

The Lord Jesus led me to read some verses in 2 Corinthians, chapter one.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV)

All of us will face difficulties in this life, some of them fairly minor, and others of them could be quite major. Some people will seemingly face only minor troubles, while others of us may have had deeply traumatic experiences in our lives, and maybe throughout our lives, too. And we may even be going through some very hard times right now. 

And some of us, too, may have questions concerning these troublesome times, either asking why they are happening to us and/or what we are supposed to do about them, or how we are to respond to them.

Through the things that we suffer, though, we can learn compassion for others who are hurting, in this case for “the walking wounded”. These are people who have been physically and/or emotionally and/or spiritually wounded by others, but they are trusting in the Lord for their healing, and so they are not letting it defeat them, but they are up and running, and walking with the Lord, and going in the right direction, by the grace of God, and in his power. But they need encouragement and comfort from other believers in Christ. And they need their prayers.

But they can be people who are often overlooked or ignored, because these are people whose wounds are not visible to the public, or because people think they should just “suck it up” and move on, as though these things do not deeply impact them and us. They deeply impact God, so why wouldn’t they impact us greatly, too? And some of these situations need to be addressed in the church, for by leaving them unaddressed, the addicted to sin continue in their addictions, and the wounded continue to get hurt.

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-11 ESV)

The “walking wounded” are not only people whose wounds do not always visibly show, and so they are overlooked or disregarded or considered a low priority, but they are those who have suffered enormously in this battle for other peoples’ lives, and for their marriages, and because they decided to stand on what is right and to fight off Satan’s evil attacks with the armor of God. So, although wounded, they are survivors! They are overcomers who have learned to put their faith, their hope, and their security in Christ.

Through all that they have suffered at the hands of their persecutors and opposition, they have learned to draw their strength from the Lord. They have learned that they cannot survive all the attacks against them in their own strength, and that they don’t have the courage to keep moving forward, in their own flesh. But they need the body of Christ to pray for them, but that requires that they have the liberty to share some of what they are going through, as Paul expressed in his letter here to the Corinthian Church.

But they have learned that their total dependency has to be in God, and in God alone, for he is the ONLY ONE who will never fail them. People will fail them and turn against them, and will not want to know that they are suffering. Jesus is the only one totally trustworthy, who will never let them down. And this strengthens them in their walks of faith, and it draws them closer to God, and through it all, God is purifying their hearts and making them into moldable vessels he can use for his purposes and for his glory. 

For, although they are wounded, God is healing them, and they are walking in the power and strength and wisdom of God, and God is using them to minister his love and grace into the lives of others who are wounded, too.

Not all the wounded, though, have yet learned to put their dependency totally in the Lord, so this is an encouragement here to cry out your pain to the Lord, to let him heal your wounded hearts, and then to let him make you into who he wants you to be, to be used of him in the lives of others, as you learn to rely totally on him, and not on yourselves. Then, although you still may be in this battle, you can have peace, and you can get up each day and have purpose and meaning for your life, and you can overcome in the power, strength and wisdom of the Lord, as you yield your life to HIM.

Thank you, Jesus, for this teaching from your word, and for what you have taught me through it. Amen!

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

By Thomas O. Chisholm / W. J. Kirkpatrick

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.