.....heal

They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” Jeremiah 6:14

After a long winter, the road near Jim’s house was in bad shape. Every morning on his drive to work, he’d zigzag around potholes, trying to save his tires — and his back. So when he spotted a construction crew one morning, he felt a spark of hope. Finally — help was on the way.

But that evening, every single pothole was still there. Nothing had changed — except for a brand-new, bright yellow sign: “Rough Road.” That sign didn’t fix anything — it just made the damage official.

And sometimes, that’s what we do with the broken places in our own lives. We slap on a label — “I’m just having a bad day,” “I’m just tired,” “that’s just the way it is” — and try to move on. We acknowledge the damage but we never deal with it. We settle for putting up signs instead of searching for real solutions.

This isn’t something new. In Jeremiah’s day, people were doing the same thing. They wanted peace without repentance, comfort without change. They said, “Peace, peace,” but there wasn’t any peace because they didn’t want to face the real problems in their lives. They refused to take their sins seriously.

But God doesn’t play along with surface-level fixes. He doesn't just want us to feel better — He wants us to be better. He wants to heal us from the inside out. And that has to begin with honesty. Acknowledging that our problems are serious. Recognizing that we can’t just slap a band-aid on them and move on. Not just labeling our struggles, but bringing them to God.

When we stop pretending and start trusting, God goes to work. Not with quick fixes or shallow comfort, but with deep, lasting renewal. He repairs what’s broken. He fills in what’s missing. He brings peace that’s real. So, don’t settle for just putting up a sign to identify your pain. Bring it to the One who can truly heal it.

- alan smith

Father, I don’t want to just label my problems or pretend everything’s okay. I want real healing and real change. Show me the areas in my life that need your repair, and give me the courage to bring them to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.