Our Compassionate Father Cannot Heal from Afar—Only Up Close


Abby falls down and scrapes her knee. It’s not a bad cut, but it’s dirty. She runs to her daddy crying, “I fell down! It hurts!”

“Let me see it,” her daddy says.

“No!”

“Please, let me look at it,” he insisted. “I cannot help you otherwise.”

“Oh, okay,” She said with hesitance.

Her daddy looks. “We’ll need to clean it up and then we can put a bandaid on it.”

“No, no!” Abby runs away. The father lets her go because he knows that it’s nothing serious at this point.

At dinner her father asks, “How’s your knee?”

“It’s fine,” she quickly responded, looking down.

“Can I see it?”

“No, really it’s fine!

A few days later Abby starts limping. Whimpering, she finally goes to her father. “Daddy, my knee hurts!”

“Let me see it. Oh, sweetie, it’s become infected. Let’s take care of that right now,” said the father, taking her hand and moving toward the bathroom.

Abby pulls away and flees again. She knows it’s really going to hurt now!

~~~~~

We are much like Abby aren’t we? We want our problems fixed; our pain removed. We want God to wave His “magic wand” from afar and make it disappear! We want God to treat the symptom without getting to the root cause. The process is too painful. We’d rather just avoid the issue.

But God doesn’t work that way.

Our Compassionate Father Cannot Heal from Afar—Only Up Close

He might leave you alone for a while in an area in which you are not ready to face. But just like Abby’s daddy, you can be assured your heavenly Father will bring up the matter again in order to prevent a more serious condition. He knows that unattended and ignored issues will cause you more harm—stunt your spiritual growth, ruin relationships, prevent Kingdom usefulness, etc….

God doesn’t force us to be open and transparent; surrendered. He knows that takes trust and a willingness to change. He knows we often don’t understand why it has to be “this” way. But He wants us to come to a place where…

Even when we don’t understand what God is doing, we can trust His Heart* 

A place of walking by faith not by sight (2 Cor 5:7); of truly believing that He is good, wise and wants the best for us—even when it may temporarily hurt.

To what kind of issues am I referring?

  • Wrong thinking (thinking/beliefs that don’t align with the Bible)
  • Bad attitudes (complaining, judgmental, resentful, etc.)
  • Prideful, un-submissive spirit
  • Repeated sinful area in which you’re not seriously addressing
  • Fear, other weak areas (like my emotional “yoyoness”)

These problems require more than an easy fix. They require a deep soul searching with God to get to the underlying cause.

I know it’s hard! We don’t like revisiting painful pasts or admitting our sinful ugliness. We’d rather avoid them altogether! But the longer we wait, the harder and more agonizing it will be. Trust me, I know from personal experience! The good news is we can learn how to do this. (See my blog, 5 Steps in How to Actually Deal with Pain.)

Let your heavenly Daddy address those difficult areas in your life; He will be gentle. Don’t expect healing from afar. Father God wants to be close to you as He tends to your wounded knee.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Ps 139:23-24)

Until next time my friends, go to your trustworthy Father with your pain. Let Him get close. Don’t run away like Abby did! 

Helpful Resources
How to Deal with Pain God’s Way Blog series
On My Father’s Lap

How to Self-Evaluate with the Holy Spirit: A 10 Step Process

*Trust His Heart by Babbie Mason

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.