It is hard to imagine being someone
who had to experience one of the traumatic events which have occurred in recent
days. To be a student where there was another deadly school shooting. To be
riding on a rollercoaster when someone fell off the ride and plunged to his
death. And then there are those tragic situations that don’t always make the
news – a car accident, a drowning, a house fire. It is not only the victims,
their families, and witnesses who have to deal with those events, but also
first responders and medical personnel. Likewise, those in the military in
times of war have to live with images of what they encountered. It is easy to
tell people to move on and to put the past behind them, but some things we see
can’t be easily unseen or forgotten.
How do we deal with traumatic
events that can haunt us? There are no simple answers. Some people need to seek
professional counseling to assist them. Time can sometimes lessen the effects,
but it doesn’t always resolve the issues. Does the Bible give us any guidance
in this matter? Certainly, there are general principles we can look to, such as
faith, trust, and hope in the Lord. But can we draw any more specific wisdom
from the pages of scripture to address this particular issue?
As I considered this, I thought
about the disciples of Jesus. They certainly faced a traumatic experience when
Jesus was arrested and executed. Not only did they experience the loss of a
close friend, a mentor, and the One they believed to be the Anointed One of
God, but they had their hopes and dreams dashed to the ground. Additionally,
one or more of them actually witnessed the horrific suffering and death that
Jesus endured. If they didn’t see it firsthand, they knew about the cruelties of
being crucified from previous encounters. No doubt they were heartbroken to
think of Jesus having to go through such pain and suffering.
How did the disciples come through
this trauma? We can look not only at what they did immediately after the
crucifixion, but later on as well, after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension had
somewhat softened the blow. But even at that point it was still traumatic to
face a world in which everything had changed and Jesus was no longer present
with them. What did they do? They stuck together, finding support from being
with others who had gone through the same experience. Maybe some of us could
benefit from support groups or from talking to others who have had similar
experiences as ourselves. Additionally, those disciples prayed and looked to
God for help and guidance. The Lord is near to assist those who will call on
Him. He can give us strength that we can’t get anywhere else. The disciples
also continued to do what Jesus had instructed them to do. They waited in
Jerusalem until they received the empowerment they needed from the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit. They took it one step at a time, one day at a time. They
couldn’t see everything ahead, but they just put one foot in front of the other
and kept going in the meantime. Maybe that is what we need to do too. It is
easy to isolate ourselves or to pull away from our responsibilities when we
have been traumatized. However, with God’s help, we need to keep living and
doing. We may not be able to see very far up the road, but we just keep taking
the next step and trust the Lord to help us take the next step after that, and
the next.
Tragedies occur in this fallen
world. And they can greatly affect us. But the Lord can be with us and help us
make it through.
No comments:
Post a Comment