These things take time. #patientintribulation #trusttheprocess

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1 Chronicles 19:5 "...Tarry at Jericho."

The king of the Ammonites, had died, and David sent messengers to the king’s son, Hanun, to comfort him. However, the new king’s advisors said not to trust David. Because of that bad counsel, Hanun seized David’s servants, shaved off their beards and cut their robes off near their buttocks, publicly shaming them.

When David heard about it, he sent men to meet his messengers and tell them compassionately to “tarry at Jericho” until their beards grew back before returning to Jerusalem. There are three parts to this story that have an application for us.

The first is that they had done nothing wrong. Their intention was only to offer help and support. Like many of us who have tried to help others, their offer of help was misinterpreted and rejected. They were falsely accused of having ulterior motives.

Having rejected their compassion, Hanun then viciously struck out at them. By shaving their beards and cutting off their robes and exposing their bodies, he brought great shame to these men who didn’t deserve it. The shame they felt was “borrowed shame,” caused by the cruel actions of Hanun.

If you love a prodigal, you know about “borrowed shame,” don’t you? We have hung our heads, humiliated when our prodigals were arrested and wept with shame when they struck out at and mistreated us. There have also been times when we were ashamed at the whispers of people who just didn’t understand.

The first part of their “shame” was easily corrected. It didn’t take those men long to put on new robes that covered their nakedness. However humiliating it might have been initially, they could correct the damage and move on. And some of the hurts and shame we’ve suffered are easily corrected too. The compassion of a friend, the intervention of a prayer warrior, reassurances that it wasn’t about us all help us to move on.

The second part of their shame wasn’t as easy to recover from. It was going to take time for those beards to grow back. David realized that and wisely told them to “tarry at Jericho” until their beards grew back and then to return home.

There are some hurts that can’t be healed with a “quick fix” and won’t heal overnight. Those are the ones that are so deep and painful that recovering from them is going to be a process. Things like having a husband walk away or losing a child are so huge that healing only comes over a period of time.

Like David’s messengers, we might need to recognize that and “tarry at Jericho” until the process of healing is complete. It isn’t that our faith is weak; it’s that our pain is great. We don’t need to “get over it.” We need to be patient with the process of healing and patient with ourselves during that process.

Whatever has caused our pain, the healing takes time. And all the wishing in the world isn’t going to make that healing happen any faster. Accepting that fact and being gentle with ourselves during the process might make the journey a little easier. It might even give us back a little of our joy.

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, acknowledged our pain and recognized that recovery from it is going to be a process rather than an event?