Cutting
Many times, the greatest pains can only be caused by those who are close enough to know our most vulnerable times. These hurts are called the ABCs of emotional pain. This pain may come through Abuse, either verbal, physical or sexual. The pain may come through Betrayal, many times it is harder to forgive someone who should have protected you than the person who actually hurt you. Betrayal can come from an authority, a friend or someone you are romantically open with. The third area that this pain can come from is Conflict, either direct conflict or constant conflict between people that you love. This conflict wears on the heart and mind. Many children are in constant turmoil because of fighting between their parents and they have a great amount of insecurity because of the fear that their parents will divorce. There are other things that can cause emotional pain such as Death or Disease. These are the biggest of the things that I have found people struggling with.
The good news starts here: once you have identified the issue and the source, you can now deal with it. David is a great example of someone who was able to deal with the emotional pain that he was experiencing. There are two things that are necessary to stop the cycle of emotional pain in your life. David says in verses 16-18, “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.” Then in verse 22, he says, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” The first step to dealing properly with emotional pain is to realize that you need an outlet for the pain, not an escape from it.
If you have ever been to a manmade lake, you will find that on one side there is an inlet that flows into the area, and on the other side, there is a dam to hold the water in place. The ways that you have been trying to deal with your emotional pain are like that dam, you haven’t dealt with it, you have just allowed it to build up behind the dam of escape. Creating an outlet for your pain was created by God with you in mind. David found that he was able to pour out his pain to God and stop allowing it to build up behind the dam of escape. The Bible talks about prayer as cleansing, pouring out your heart to God is purifying to the soul. God knew also that it would be hard for you to do this without seeing someone else that you could identify with who had experienced emotional pain as well.
