Shocks

On a walk recently, my dog Sasha suddenly ran away and went to hide in a nearby wood. I tried to persuade her to come to me, but to no avail. I encouraged her to wait while I came to her, and I found her shaking and trembling all over, with her tail between her legs. There was no way I could persuade her to continue on the walk. It was then that I realised what the problem was. The field we were in had been divided into two halves, with an electric fence down the middle to keep the sheep on one side. Some years ago, Sasha had received a shock from an electric fence, and the memory of it was obviously still very vivid.

Whereas she would normally trust me and come straight to me when I called (mostly, anyway!), the terror from the trauma caused her to behave in a way that was totally out of character. She was not able to trust me as she usually did.

It reminded me of how we, as humans, can carry the shock of past traumas long after the event. Our responses can be triggered, unexpectedly and often subconsciously, by sights, sounds, smells and situations. We can then be controlled by fear or panic, which makes us act irrationally or want to run away, as Sasha did, all of which makes it difficult for us to trust God at these times.

The good news is that God can heal us from the effects of past traumas. He can gently remove from our inner being the impact of the shocks, taking away any footholds that the enemy may have established in our lives through them, and restoring His peace and order. With healing taking place on the inside, physical healing often follows too. What an amazing God, and what a loving, caring Father we have! In today’s verse the psalmist writes: ‘I sought the LORD, and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.’ This happened in David’s time and it can happen today. The next verse says: ‘Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.’ As we look to the Lord, He can remove all our shame too.