We never thought our dreams would come through our wounds. Those dreams lay shining before us, immediately within our grasp, or so we thought. Maybe Joseph felt the same.

His own brothers sold him into captivity. The traders who bought him carried with them balm and myrrh from Gilead to be sold in Egypt, entirely unaware that those healing spices were now joined by a man who would bring healing to his generation during a time of severe famine. And this man’s journey would foreshadow a greater, eternal savior who would bring healing and salvation to all.

Do we realize that sometimes we, too, must be broken to bring healing?

Joseph likely didn’t realize this when he first received his dream—that he would have to be broken.

Broken by the hatred of his brothers.

Broken by separation from his family.

Broken in slavery.

Broken as a man falsely accused.

Broken through years in prison, though innocent.

Broken year after year as he waited until his dream was almost forgotten.

Yet God makes everything beautiful in its time. And so he did with Joseph, raising him up from the heap of ashes to a prominent place. Positioning him to save a people from certain death.

And through the lineage of those saved would come a greater savior who would suffer death on a cross to save us from sin and to defeat death through his resurrection.

“By his wounds we are healed,” we cry. And this is truth. God can heal everything from broken hearts to broken bodies. And yet, sometimes His healing comes in a different way. And dreams can only be resurrected after they’ve first been buried.

“Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains but a single seed.”

There’s a deeper faith that understands we are also called to be like Jesus. And because He was wounded we, too, may be wounded for a season. Is a student above his teacher? If Jesus suffered, so we may be called to the same.

Of course, our brokenness would never come to the point of bringing salvation, as He did and alone can do. But maybe our brokenness comes to a degree that we might share in pouring his healing balm on those in need.

And as we bleed through our wounds an element of His healing is brought to our own generation. A deeper healing.

Who knows how our own wounds may be used to bring healing to others?

God works miracles in unexpected ways. He is all-powerful and can certainly bring immediate healing, as he often does. Yet his greater miracles come when he brings light from darkness, good from evil, and healing from our wounds. Only God can bring glory from ashes.

Photo Credit: by Lichtmagnet from Pixabay