How can I help people who are hurting?
Psalm 69:20Their insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. If only one person would show some pity; if only one would turn and comfort me.
1 Peter 3:8Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.
To help people who are hurting, we can listen to them and offer them empathy and comfort. Insults and cruel words are abrasive, wounding the heart. Attention, empathy, and comfort bring healing.
Job 30:16“And now my life seeps away. Depression haunts my days.”
Proverbs 15:13A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 17:22A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
To help people who are hurting, we should understand the effect deep hurt has on a person’s spirit, mind, and body. Awareness leads to sympathy; sympathy leads to empathy; empathy leads to comforting, and comforting leads to healing.
Romans 12:15Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.
1 Corinthians 12:26If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
Hebrews 13:3Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
To help people who are hurting, we should share in their sorrows as much as we share in their joys.
2 Corinthians 1:4He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
To help people who are hurting, we can share our experiences of God’s comfort with them. God’s healing in us may bring hope and healing to others.
1 Peter 5:12I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.
To help people who are hurting, we can encourage the brokenhearted. Words of comfort can lift up a hurting person.
Job 2:13Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.
Job 16:2“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are!”
Job 21:34“How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!”
Proverbs 12:18Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.
Lamentations 1:16“For all these things I weep; tears flow down my cheeks. No one is here to comfort me; any who might encourage me are far away. My children have no future, for the enemy has conquered us.”
To help hurting people, we must be careful with the words we offer them. Explanations and clichés are rarely comforting. Love, sympathy, and the power of our presence are needed. Sometimes the best comfort we can give is to simply be with the brokenhearted in their pain.
Matthew 7:5“Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
Romans 1:12When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.
1 Thessalonians 3:7So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith.
To help people who are hurting, we should remain strong but honest in our faith. Those weakened by hurt are encouraged by seeing others who have gained strength as they overcame their own hurt. Christians sometimes pretend to have their lives all together and fail to share the deep pain of their trials. This may be well-meaning—an attempt at showing optimism—but hiding hurt can hinder our growth and undermine the help we could offer others. Hiding our hurt can promote a culture of dishonesty, hidden pain, and despair. The only way to bless others from our hurts is to ask God to help us confront our hurts honestly. Then we will have the experience and wisdom to help others as they face their own.
Job 42:11Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.
Psalm 68:6God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
Mark 16:10She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened.
John 11:33-35When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept.
Our help for hurting people should begin with our family and friends. Family life must be a safe haven from a wounding world. The family haven should be both a healing clinic and a training camp where we learn to cope with and conquer wounding influences.
