“Let It Rather Be Healed.”

We have this little word in the English language, which cannot stand alone, but is one of significate importance. That small three lettered word is “let.” It means to not prevent or forbid—allow. In my own words it means giving permission, to surrender, to allow something to take place. It is to give permission for something to happen or to be. It is about the only control that I have in a given situation—either to let it happen or not let it happen.

This morning a part of the 13th verse of Romans 12 came to me. “But let it rather be healed.” Here that word is used to give permission or to choose to let something be healed. I do not know if that verse or verses have ever impressed me like they did this morning. Here it is in context—13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Hebrews 12:13-15 KJV

Now let us consider what all three of those verses are saying. The way it came to me, if we do not let our wounds and hurts be healed, then a root of bitterness will come into our hearts, and we will become defiled. I know that is not exactly the way the verses read, but it is the way it impressed me. If we do not allow the Holy Spirit of God to heal our wounded hearts, we will become bitter. I have experienced that root of bitterness, and it will lead us away from God and his church, whither we believe it or not. We cannot harbor unhealed wounds in our hearts forever—it will make us bitter and bitterness will eventually turn us away from God.

We all get wounded from time to time. It could be from family members or friends, or brothers or sisters in the church. To become wounded is part of being human—we cannot avoid it. Likewise, the need for healing is also human and we all need it. Sometimes it seems that those wounds are so deep and so raw that there is nothing big enough or great enough to take them away. However, this verse sheds a ray of hope for us. Think about it again, “Let it rather be healed.” We say, “Oh, I want this pain and suffering to go away!” Well, this verse gives us that hope. We by the grace and power of God, have the ability to “let” it be healed.

When our hearts are wounded, pain is about all we can see. We hurt all over inside—the mental dialog in our head goes round and round—up one side and down the other. We try to understand why things happened the way they did. We may try to imagine ways to get back at the one who hurt us. We try to rationalize and figure out what we did that got us hurt and the list goes on and on—our mind spins. Finally, we have about two options. One is to hold on to it and continue to hurt inside, or the other is to let it go and let God heal it.

Here is where we often forget the power of God. When we are hurting, indignant, and offended, we cannot see much beyond the present. We forget that God is near and has seen what has happened from the beginning to the end, and that his power is capable to do a work in our hearts if we “let” him. “But let it rather be healed.”

When we let go of the struggle and turn it over to him, he will work miracles that we will not be able to comprehend or understand. His power can change the way see things and his love can fill us to overflowing if we “let” him. I am saying this with confidence because I have experienced it. God can take a seemingly impossible situation and help us bear it.

Letting go is not saying the other party was right and we were wrong. It is not saying that we deserve what happened to us. It really is not saying anything. It is simply turning it over to God to heal us. It is letting go of judgment and letting God be the judge. It is tapping into a heavenly power, the same power that gave Jesus the ability to say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” and repeating that over and over again.

This is a crude illustration, but sometimes our thoughts are like when we have something stuck between our teeth. Our tongue keeps going back to the object time and again, trying to get it out. We may forget about it for a moment, then suddenly we realize that our tongue is back at it, feeling it and trying to work it out. Finally, we get a toothpick to remove the offending object and relieve our misery. That is similar to what happens when we have been wounded. Our minds keep trying to rationalize and figure it out. We turn our thoughts to something else and before we know it, our mind is back at it again, circulating those same thoughts over and over again.

Sometimes we need to take action to “let” it be healed. Rather than rehashing it with our spouse or friend, for the umpteenth time, we need to take it back to the Healer and, “Let it rather be healed.” Sometimes God heals our wounds immediately, while other times we find healing by turning a situation over to God time and time again.

We may be going along in our day, and suddenly some old hurt pops up from a long time back and begins to circulate through our mind. If we let it be there, it will continue to grow and distort our thinking of ourselves or others. Many times, it is accompanied by shame—we feel small or stupid. Soon it becomes a big looming problem that fills our whole mind, and everything is dark and without hope. We thought it was past and taken care of, only to find it rear up again. We need healing—we can choose to let it be healed by the power of God, or we can wallow in it. The choice is up to us.

I do not understand why it is that way, but when we are in the struggle, we tend to forget the power of God. At least that is the way I have found it. But I have also found that when I take it to him and let him do his healing, miracles happen that I did not think possible. He may not take us out of the situation, but he will give us power to heal.

Some people become wounded and walk away from the church of God. Was God not powerful enough to heal the wounds they received? Were their wounds too deep that there was not enough grace to heal them? Wounds are real, and we really get misunderstood. Because we are human we misunderstand and are misunderstood, but that does not hinder the power of God to heal.

How big is your God? How much power does he have in your life? The truth is, he has as much power in our lives as we “let” him have.

Most of us are without excuse when it comes to letting the power of God work in our hearts. If he can create you and me, the world, and everything we see— if he can raise the dead, then he is capable of fixing all my problems.

I do not want anyone to feel like I think the struggles of life are not real or legitimate. Some people bear desperately heavy burdens that they cannot escape, no matter how much they desire to. Others face emotional struggles and limitations which take time and prayer to heal. The beautiful part is that God never over-reaches anyone but gives grace according to the need. I have found that God deals patiently with us. He comes down into our darkest valleys to walk with us—to weep with us over our broken lives. Yet he is not content that we stay in the dark and in the valley. His ways are always redemptive. With him we can smile amid the tears and have peace amid the storm. The only limitation that he has is us.

May we “let” him heal our broken lives.

Jeff Goertzen

10/26/2025