“Do you want God to use you greatly? Then He must wound you deeply.”
Have you ever heard this? It’s actually a popular re-working of a quote from A.W. Tozer, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.”
The quote troubles me. It has become a fairly standard way for pastors to illustrate the concept that God will use someone’s past as part of His greater plan once that person surrenders to Him. The worse the past, the greater use God can make of it. Scripture bears this out with examples, but it’s the wrong quote to be used to express that concept because the quote itself, on its face, doesn’t say what these pastors are using it to say.
The plain meaning of the quote itself says two things to me: 1) God won’t use me (or only use me minimally) unless I’ve been “wounded” or “hurt” in a serious way (why would I sign up for that??); and 2) it’s God Himself who’s doing the wounding/hurting.
Let me say right off that I do not believe that we must be wounded to be used “greatly” by God. That’s just silly — the notion places a higher value on salvation following a sordid life of sin than a life lived in faith and trust in God from an early age. Neither of those salvation experiences will be counted as more useful to God. So I’m not struggling with that part of the quote, because I’ve already dismissed it.
But I am struggling with Tozer’s assertion that God hurts us in order to use us. Does God hurt us? Or does He just allow us to be broken by our own sin and the sin of others until we are ready to surrender to Him? I don’t have an answer for this one. Before considering Jacob’s wrestling match with God in Genesis 32 (as I was required to do during the Sunday morning sermon), I would have told you unequivocally that God does not wound us; sin wounds us.
Because it just seems to me that our deepest wounds often come as a result of the consequences of our own sin and not as a result of God smiting us. This was true even for the Israelites, God’s chosen nation:
“‘Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,’ declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.” (Jer. 2: 19).
Now, I do acknowledge that bad things happen to us that are beyond our control and that we have done nothing to deserve them, but they can be traced back to Adam’s fall and the entry of sin into the world. Sin brought disease and death and we all suffer the consequences of living in a world full of sin.
But God wounded Jacob — He physically wounded Jacob. Jacob may have walked with a limp for the rest of his life because God touched the socket of Jacob’s hip after an all-night wrestling match “so that his hip was wrenched”. It would be easier for me if this story was worded in such a way that Jacob was wounded merely as a result of wrestling with God, because then I could place some blame with Jacob for wrestling with God in the first place. Why not just surrender, Jacob? What do you think is going to happen when you wrestle with God all night? You’re going to get hurt, that’s what!
But becoming wounded as a result of the match is different I think than God ending the match by wounding Jacob. The former is a result of Jacob’s stubbornness; the latter is a result of God calling an end to it with physical pain. I’ve read several opinions on what these verses mean and none of them address the fact that God hurt Jacob — that God inflicted the pain Himself.
So . . . where am I? I want to believe that God does not wound us; sin wounds us. Am I naive? I still have a week or two before this section of Genesis will be examined under the microscope in CBS, but I refuse to look ahead to that lesson because I would like to wrestle it out with God myself.
I am going to try not to get wounded in the process.
Feel free to jump into the wrestling match in the comment section below.
You’ll find that, in a different philosophy/religion or even interpretation of the Bible, different people who have existed on earth at different times have different ideas about why life is sometimes difficult. I would caution against taking on anybody’s opinion without critical examination of what should be an intensely personal journey. The Bible and indeed all of the religious texts are filled with allegories and symbolism that must be understood before any sensible interpretation can be made.
Life is difficult because we live in a fallen sinful world, that is just truth. As I kept praying about this, I just kept coming to the same conclusion. In order for us to grow there needs to be some type of pain that is experienced.I think that all of us have a different threshold for “pain”. My pain may not be the same as yours, or someone else’s but God does say we will have pain..
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”John 16:33 We are also told Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.1 Peter 5:8.
The way to protect ourselves is -.Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full amour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full amour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.Eph 6:10-17
I think as Christians, this life is a battle where we will get wounded IF we are in the midst of the fight. Do i believe you can be saved and sit on the side lines and do nothing to further the Kingdom of Heaven? Absolutely! I believe that God has a path for all of us and on our path there will be battles. We will wrestle, we will weep with those who weep, we will pray for people that don’t even know they need prayers, we will stand in the gap for those who need it. In doing so, life becomes messy as a Christ follower. We are challenged to give up the fight for others and it’s hard and it’s painful some days to stand firm but we are told- “Do not be afraid, Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The circumstance you see today, you will never see again. Exodus 14:13.
Maybe, as Christians, the deep hurt/pain we must experience to be used greatly,is a heart for God’s people. To take on others pain, so they know they are not alone.Christ took on our pain and suffering when he didn’t need to. I think we are called to “need to” stand with others in their pain and struggles.To have a determination in our Spirit of “GOD!!! Whatever it takes!!” I think God is calling for a Revival of his people.It’s messy and it’s painful, but in the end the reward is much greater than we can ever imagine.
I think God uses whatever and whomever, to bring us to him. Saved and Unsaved. I needed to be broken before I would accept Christ and his plan for me. I was a stubborn and selfish girl and in that it took so much more time, and pain than it needed. That was my choice. God never stopped giving me chances, it was always I that rejected him, I think when I heard the Quote I took it to only think of my own pain, and not the pain of others. Maybe I also took it to girly and really didn’t think about the battle that is happening everyday. I don’t know. I do know that this has been a great topic to meditate over. Thanks for posting this piece..
I agree with everything you say, although I do not believe pain is necessary for growth. But you’ve skirted the big question: does God cause the pain? Is He the one hurting you (so that you will grow) or is He the one who merely uses the hurt (albeit to help you grow) that we inflict on ourselves and others?
I should also make the distinction between God punishing evildoers and ne’er-do-wells (the Bible is full of examples of that — e.g. Israelites getting swallowed up in a pit after they reject God in favor of an idol they’d fashioned for themselves while waiting for Moses to come down off the mountain) and God causing hurt or pain for the sake of growth. It’s the latter scenario I’m having trouble with.
I had to do some research on line of ind my answer. This link is the best explanation I could find that explains my answer to your question and your answer to your question. My answer is under The Bigger Picture heading when he is talking about Habakkuk. http://www.seekyefirst.org/tracts/bruce1.pdf