As I read Proverbs 20:30 today, I was quickly reminded of an experience I had over a decade ago.

Years ago, I was assigned to a surgical department for my rotation. I was excited because I’ve always been fascinated by the human heart. “At last, I get to see and possibly touch the human heart in situ,” I thought.

During one of the morning rounds, I observed a resident (junior) doctor, with the help of a scalpel, removing dead white tissues from the wound of a patient who had undergone heart surgery. It’s a process called wound debridement. I felt uneasy because I could see the patient in pain and attempting to move the doctor’s hand away from that region. The attending (Senior) doctor simply observed what the resident doctor did and tried to pacify the patient. This continued until there was bleeding around the wound area. The doctor stopped, did some medication, and covered the wound.

Later, I sought to understand why they had to open a wound that “was healing” and cut it off “causing further injury.” The surgeon then explained that the white tissues he removed were avascular (had no blood vessels in them) and that from physiology I know that healing is only possible when an area is vascularized. Also, those dead tissues could aid bacterial growth as well as impede the growth of healthy tissue. So, removing those dead and fibrinous tissues is necessary for healing to occur. The removal needs to be done until the wound bleeds. It was then that the things I read in physiology and pathology made more sense.

Before this experience, I had read about the ancient medical practice of bloodletting (therapeutic phlebotomy). Ancient physicians would cut a patient’s blood vessel to withdraw blood as a therapeutic process for certain medical conditions. Although obsolete and abandoned, bloodletting was once widely practised. So, pain is not bad in itself, as long as it is for good. It is the intention or purpose that matters.

Back to Proverbs 20 verse 30.

[30] The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: So, do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

Note that this verse is trying to contrast two types of healing, the healing of physical evil (disease) by the blueness of a wound and the healing of the belly (inward moral evil) by stripes. Blueness here refers to the bleeding of a wound.

Here are some deductions I made.

1. Sometimes to heal, you need to face what caused that wound again, open it up, feel the pain, shed the tears, and allow the bleeding to wipe out the evil out of your heart. Healing from certain experiences requires facing them, and willingly, even with much difficulty, allowing the hurt and the person behind the hurt to go. Bleeding of an old wound not only lets out the bad blood but also allows good blood to flow to that region bringing about perfect healing.

2. The process of our pruning and growth isn’t palatable. An old dead branch is cut off during pruning. Even a lively branch that is unproductive is also cut off. And oh, a good productive branch may even be cut off, so a new branch comes out next season. It does not feel right, but that’s the price to pay for greater fruiting in the next season. The first instinct is to run away from anything that makes us uncomfortable. But much growth and expansion lies in discomfort.

3. There are times when we want to be well, but without sweat. We want a peaceful marriage without the needed work. We want great career heights without the pain of study and self-denials. It takes effort to make things happen, and most times effort is not cosy and sweet.

4. Sharp corrections are not always palatable, even when done in love, but they are given to purge the inner evil. Receive them, whether in tears or not, for your own good. For whom the Lord loves he chastises, just as a father corrects the son he loves. Only a bastard is left to wander in the wilderness of foolishness.

5. Discipline is a necessary part of the training process of anyone who would amount to anything called useful. Certain moral evil require stripes to flush them out. If you spare the rod, you will spoil the child. This is not about maltreatment and child abuse. However, a child must be shown, using God’s Word and good judgment, what is right and wrong. And persistence in a wrong thing requires discipline to drive out the wrong and inculcate right godly values.

6. Some of us have carried dead tissues for years because we fear the pain of debridement. Yes, we submitted ourselves to that surgery, but we are afraid of the surgeon looking at the wound again to see if it’s healing well or not. We prefer to carry putrefying wounds for life than experience the pains of a few days/weeks. It’s time to return to the hospital and submit ourselves to the hands of our surgeon. We need to be sound before we leave. I speak in parables.

7. Don’t be ashamed or afraid to cry when it’s painful. You are human and it’s normal to lower your eyebrows and squeeze your eyes because of pain. A few, “Sorry, I’m almost done,” from the doctor may not eliminate the pain, but they are soothing. At least you know that the surgeon cares.