Today’s scripture: Proverbs 3:5,6 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Steve Adams):
Hello, lover of God! Can we talk? REALLY talk?
This mind of ours — it’s an incredible gift; an elegant, sophisticated instrument with a universe of capabilities. It enables us to experience life in all of it’s fullness — spanning the range from glorious highs to painful lows. But when you live in the real world for a while, the mind inevitably gets hurt — many times. That’s life. And some of these wounds are incredibly deep and severe. When the wound is that intense, it’s TRAUMA — something the mind records and stores for the rest of our lives.
How do we respond when this happens — or we discover it happened years ago and we weren’t able to get adequate treatment? A growing number of psychotherapists, like Diane Poole Heller who specializes in trauma treatment, are talking about the implicit mind as a key in dealing with deep mental wounds. The implicit mind is the part we’re not usually aware of (and if we are, it’s often only a partial, sketchy awareness). Bad implicit memories bubble up all the time. Do you ever discover your muscles are tensing up and your breathing is shallow, sometimes when there’s no apparent cause? That’s the implicit mind giving you messages of danger. It may have stemmed from a trauma 40 years ago or last week. It has no conception of time. Everything seems like the present.
And the wounded implicit mind has lots of ENERGY! It bubbles up to influence our behaviour, often catching us unaware. It can even CONTROL us — ambushing us, because its not on our radar screen! The Indianapolis police department is providing it’s officers with implicit bias training to help them avoid wrongfully pulling the trigger during crisis situations when dealing with people who they may have prejudice against. When we give our implicit mind loving, logical training, it will respond and transform, increasing the likelihood of good, spontaneous decisions.
When a severely wounded implicit mind is triggered by turmoil and crisis, though, it can cause people to do drastic things – quit a good job, walk away from a good relationship that’s going through a rough patch, yell and insult somebody they love. At it’s most extreme, it can even flood the conscious mind with urges of suicide or murder.
So, we read Proverbs 3 — God’s Word shining like a beacon through the darkness! “Trust in God with ALL YOUR HEART!” Yes! The heart includes that innermost part of the mind that houses the implicit mind. INVITE GOD INTO YOUR IMPLICIT MIND! It’s got loads of intuitive love and wisdom within, and can even receive God’s spiritual guidance. Let your faith well up in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! Surrender to God’s glorious presence! Let God move in whatever way God wants to in this deep, mysterious, unknown universe inside of you! Where there is a deep, bleeding laceration — invite Jesus your Shepherd to put His healing balm on it and massage the pain away. When the wound says, “It’s hopeless! Why bother trying to fix this! You’re as good as dead,” lean NOT unto your own understanding! Instead, open to GOD’S understanding!
When you do this, you’ll discover there’s a vast treasure in your implicit mind — galaxies filled with faith, trust, hope, perseverance, and intuitive wisdom. When you reach this treasure, thank God for bringing you to the Promised Land! And delight that your wounds are being healed and transformed by the Creator of the Universe, your God who is faithfully leading you NOT into temptation, but delivering you from evil!
Thought for the day: God, I invite You into the innermost part of my mind. I “lose” myself in worship and adoration of You. I immerse myself in a sea of thanksgiving and faith, allowing Your healing waters to touch every wound.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.