Triage–noun
1. the process of sorting victims, as of a battle or disaster, to determine priority in orderto
increase the number of survivors.
2. the determination of priorities for action in an emergency......
This is how I often look at the recovery process or our Biblical walk in general. There are many things that God wants to teach us, but "first things first". When soldiers are pulled from the battlefield, bloody and injured (some near death) they may arrive at a triage center first. Not so much to see who needs attention the quickest (although in the human realm this is a priority), but often to see which of their injuries need attention now, and which injuries can wait.
Some injuries, though serious, don't get treated until life threatening ones are taken care of. Setting a broken leg doesn't help me much if I'm bleeding to death! Both injuries occurred in the same battle, but the leg can wait. Right now, the bleeding must be stopped before I die. THIS is recovery in many situations.
God wised me up to the fact that I needed to stop drinking before I got myself killed. Working on my anger and resentment could wait until the "patient" was stabilized. Working on my low estimation of myself was something that was buried deep inside and could not be seen from the surface. The "surgeon" can go back in and pick out all the shrapnel AFTER I'm pulled back from the brink of death.
Sound too dramatic? Perhaps, but I don't think so. The battles we face on a daily basis are not always loud and explosive, but just as deadly. Being knocked down on the battlefield of life is not something that the world sees. It can be a very silent killer. We can die spiritually, or emotionally long before our heart stops beating. We can linger in misery on that battlefield for years before we finally "bleed out" and pass from this world without even being found by our comrades.
But for those of us who claw and drag our way onto "safer" ground and stagger into the triage center known as recovery or church, we have a chance. The key is, once we get help, stop trying to get off of the operating table! Let the Healer you sought do His job!
Peace and prayers,
WA
