In the New Testament Gospel writings, we read how Jesus loved to tell stories to teach His followers about the kingdom of God. The Old Testament or Hebrew Bible is full of stories that rely on numerous genres of literature to convey important spiritual truths. Similes, metaphors, and parables utilize the natural world to bring these lessons about our relationship with God, others, and the natural world to life. Consider a metaphor often used by God about the wounds of His people Israel:
"The Lord binds up the fracture of His people..." Isaiah 30:26
"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted..." Isaiah 61:1
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted..." Psalm 34:18
The words of the Psalms and Isaiah were written somewhere around three thousand years ago...about 1000 years before Christ. The reality of life out of doors combined with the brutality of war made fractures to the bones of those who lived and fought in them extremely common. There is no doubt that some of our most basic first aid methods were known and practiced by our ancestors at that time as well. Ancient peoples were not as primitive as we sometimes assume -- a concept that C.S. Lewis called our tendency toward chronological snobbery. Lewis defines this as the "uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited."
The biblical writers knew the need to bind up the wounds of those in their care quickly whether they were accidentally or intentionally injured. We can learn much about binding up our spiritual, emotional, and relational wounds from the metaphor of binding up physical fractures and wounds. Let's look at some basic first aid practices.
What is involved in binding up wounds?
First - As soon as you know you are injured, stop and keep still. If you are the helper, calm the person and urge them to keep still. Do not try to move them. Stop the bleeding. Cover the wound. Do not attempt to straighten the bone. Use a splint above and below the break to stabilize the bone as much as possible. Transport to a place of safety for treatment and healing if necessary.
Second - Listen to the message of pain in the person's body. Bruising, swelling, hotness to the touch of the skin, and any pain that does not completely go away after a few days are all indicators that there may be more injury than suspected.
One of the most dangerous fractures is one that is not recognized early enough to be properly assessed and treated. Ignoring and denying pain is a leading cause of untreated fractures that result in bone infection, long-term nerve damage, misalignment of the bone, damage to muscles and ligaments causing disability. When a fracture is misaligned and heals in an incorrect position, the bone sometimes needs to be re-broken in order to realign it for proper healing.
Third - Get advice from someone experienced in treating broken bones. Today we would seek professional diagnosis and treatment from an emergency room or primary care physician unless we were in a remote area without access to medical help. A doctor would likely use an X-Ray, CT or MRI to determine any unseen complications. "Broken bones heal by themselves – the aim of medical treatment is to make sure the pieces of bone are lined up correctly. The bone needs to recover fully in strength, movement and sensitivity. Some complicated fractures may need surgery or surgical traction (or both)." https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/bone-fractures#first-aid-for-bone-fractures
Fourth- Give your body time to heal by resting your whole body and immobilizing the fractured bone for the time suggested by your physician.
The Metaphor and Meaning of Emotional First Aid
The binding up of a fractured bone is a useful metaphor for healing emotional wounds.
In staying with our metaphor, we are told to help calm an injured person and urge them to refrain from moving before finding out how serious the injury might be. Remember, just your presence as a helper (as opposed to your efforts or ability to fix the situation) is calming. Emotionally, we want to encourage someone who has been wounded in a "relationship accident" to take the time to figure out what has transpired rather than impulsively reacting (or over react) which could lead to more injury. This might include helping the injured person to vent to you (without yet giving advice), encouraging them to to get more information if needed by clarifying communication or checking out assumptions and resisting the temptation to take premature action.
When someone says or does something that hurts our feelings, a natural reaction is to shut down emotionally (freeze), get agitated/angry (fight) or run away (flight). This is related to the natural survival system in our body to protect us from harm. It is called the fight - flight - freeze system but there is more research that suggests our bodies will also completely collapse when unable to respond to a threat with fight, flight, or freeze. One example of collapsing is fainting or losing consciousness.
Listen to the message of emotional pain that presents as intense or on-going sadness, anger, fear, anxiety, or mental discomfort including mental confusion, disorientation, blanking out or inability to focus. Our pain has something significant to say to us that will help our healing. Notice what circumstances or memories tend to be associated with these emotions and instead of brushing them off as unimportant and internalizing them, take the time to explore them. It is not uncommon for a current relationship hurt to touch one or more old similar unhealed wounds. For example, one person shared that when a recent friendship ended abruptly, she was surprised at how depressed she became. As she took time to explore other relationships that had ended abruptly, she realized she had "forgotten" that her dad had left their family without any warning when she was 10 years old. She never saw her dad again, was urged to just "move on," and did not realize until the moment of exploration that there was still unresolved pain related to this old wound that needed care and attention.
Get advice from someone experienced in treating mental health wounds. Pastoral and lay counseling can be extremely effective in helping people who are struggling with spiritual issues or experiencing an acute relationship wound. However, experienced biblical counselors are also trained to recognize when a serious wound requires the assessment and treatment of a licensed professional therapist. Just as many lay people are trained in CPR and basic first aid and know when to get someone to the emergency room when needed, so must lay counselors, pastors and coaches facilitate immediate inpatient behavioral health care for those who are in a mental health crisis or may be a risk to themselves or others.
Give your heart, mind, soul, and body time to heal by resting. Time alone does not heal every wound, but even proper intervention without time will result in additional injury. Even with surgery on a broken bone, a proper fitting leg cast, and follow-up appointments, premature use of that leg will not only compromise healing but may result in disability. This is also true for the healing of relational wounds. It is worth the pain, effort and time to learn learn how to bind up emotional and relational wounds. We have a wonderful example and teacher of this process in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
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