LORD my God has given me rest on every side

by
Chaplain Kathie

When we talk about the men and women serving in the military and the veterans in this country, this passage is used most of the time.

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Why? Because they were willing to die for the sake of their friends and for strangers. Then there is this passage.

1 John 3:16

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

This is what they have inside of them making them so much different from the rest of us. We can't seem to wrap our brains around what makes them do it. How does a person surrender everything the rest of us seek, be prepared to endure every hardship, separation from their families and friends and put their lives on the line knowing when they come home, no one will really care that much about what they did?

It is already inside of them. It is what makes a cop willing to face off with criminals everyday. They do it because innocent people get hurt by the actions of others.

It is what makes a firefighter ready to rush into a burning building.

It is what makes National Guardsmen ready to face natural disasters in their communities and know that they can be sent away from their families, friends and jobs to be deployed into combat along side of regular military folks, knowing they will not be seen as equals by them.

It is what causes a high school student to think of nothing else than entering into military service.

It is what they are called to do but above that, all that is required for them to be able to do it has been within them since the day they were born.

When you talk to people and ask them why they decided to do what they do with their lives, the happiest people said they never thought of doing anything else. They have followed where they were led.

Most of the time their calling requires hardships and sacrifices but they are ready to face them. Sometimes these struggles overpower them and that is when they need help. The problem is, how does a person like this ask for help when they are the ones always there to help someone else?

I am not in the military and never served but I can tell you in my own life, asking for help is the hardest thing I have done. It doesn't matter how many times I've helped others, thinking no less of them, when it comes to my need for help. I try to do everything on my own first, sink myself into the work I do, then cry at night when there is nothing else but the sound of my own thoughts. I talk to God. I tell Him what He already knows as if any of my failures should surprise Him when He sees everything. I cry out to Him screaming for His help but as the joke goes, He sent me help in the form of other people, but I refused to accept it. Then guilt sets in. I must be suffering because it is my fault, which it is but not in the way it really was. I wasn't good enough. I wasn't strong enough. I didn't try hard enough. The real fault was that I didn't trust enough to let someone help me. Strange because I expect others to trust me.

So these men and women come home reluctant to ask for help as if there is any kind of shame in it and their souls pay the price. They think it is all their fault. What adds to this is the fact basically the military tells them it is their fault if they are suffering. They didn't train their brains to overcome it. They did not become resilient as if building a wall to separate them from all they go through would do any good when the military does not offer them a sledgehammer to take that wall back down when they are back home. That wall traps in the bad memories as much as it traps out the good ones.

When they do ask for help they are handed pills to take. Medications have their place in all of this but if no therapy is given, all these pills do is numb them to emotions.

When they are given therapy mentally and spiritually, the first thing they do is cry. A flood of tears comes rushing out and with every tear, the pain they carried. If therapy stops before they have addressed all the events causing the pain then there is a residual pain left behind.

When they understand that they will not be cured they are willing to accept being healed. What cannot be reversed, they are able to cope and make peace with it. This comes when they forgive themselves as well as know they were forgiven.

There is a passage in Kings addressing the building of the Temple. Solomon talks about finding rest on every side where there is no adversary or disaster.

1 Kings 5

Preparations for Building the Temple

3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’

6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”

7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

Solomon was very wise but even he knew how to ask for help to build the Temple understanding there were people experienced in doing what he needed done. He did not expect God to just have supplied them automatically any more than he expected the men he had to suddenly know everything they needed to know. It is the same with the veterans in this country. They had to train to be able to do their jobs but no one trained them to ask for help to recover from all of it and find rest on every side.

There are people we face everyday wanting noting more than to destroy us just as we find people wanting nothing more than to help us. There are disasters, trials, tribulations entering into every life but the more we are able to feel, the more we are changed by these events. The more a person is able to feel good emotions, like love and compassion, the more they feel the bad emotions caused by events and the suffering of others. They need "skilled" people to help them to rebuild their lives and rediscover the equipped soul they were born with. This Temple is not built with cedar but with faith and knowing the love of God lasts forever. This enemy God can put under their feet is not man but the enemy within them trying to destroy all that God created within them that was good. They forget why they wanted to serve and why they were willing to lay down their lives. All they see is what was bad about what they had to do.

PTSD blocks their ability to see themselves for what they were and all the good that is still inside of them

They need help to see past the cedars surrounding them so they can once again see themselves as God sees them. The same person God placed on this earth to be able to face danger for the sake of someone else.

When they are healed they reach back to help others get to that place of rest where there is hope, compassion for them until the day comes when they know they are able to find peace with the warrior they had to be.