06/28/2026
Liberty to the Crushed
By Tom Gilbreath
Living in this world means you will be bruised. Sometimes the bruise is physical. Sometimes it is emotional. Sometimes it reaches all the way into the soul. Times of hurt perfectly align with last-days Bible prophecy, and, generally, it will get worse. The pattern is circular. Trauma triggers bad behavior, and bad behavior spreads more trauma.
The second season of the classic television comedy series, The Dick Van D**e Show, features an episode called, “Don’t Trip Over That Mountain.” In it, the character of Rob Petrie went skiing for the first time and, against his wife’s advice and intuition, he went down the big slope. He did well until he ran into the skier ahead of him who had crashed into a goat. Then another skier crashed into Rob.
The result for Van D**e’s character was a full-body sprain. He was so bruised that he needed a cane just to walk. His steps were tiny; his progress slow and agonizing. All movement was painful. On a television comedy, it was funny. But with real pain, it’s a different story.
You may have experienced similar bruising — maybe not physically — but emotionally… spiritually. You went through something that left you so wounded, you could barely move. Maybe it was hard to get out of bed. Maybe you stopped enjoying even the things you loved most. You might even feel that way now.
In the film, Mirage, Gregory Peck plays a man who has lost his memory, and he worries that he may be insane. He talks to an eminent psychiatrist who tells him, “You're not sick, you're just bruised.” The character had experienced a severe psychological trauma — something increasingly common today. Whether it is clinically diagnosed PTSD after combat, or the lingering ache of a shattered relationship, life’s bruises can build a prison around your soul.
In Luke 4:18 (KJV), Jesus said He came “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” At first, that may sound odd. Why would bruised people need to be set free? But anyone who has faced severe physical, emotional, or spiritual wounds knows that bruises can constrain and bind.
Several popular modern translations say, “oppressed” rather than “bruised.” The original Greek literally means “to crush.” Government can oppress — so can jobs, and so can other people. Being crushed makes us weary and fearful. If you’re a follower of Jesus, God has great adventures ahead for you. Don’t let your bruises immobilize you.
He came “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” The crushings of life — old ones and new — tend to bind us and keep us from God’s best. But Jesus wants us to release our hurts to Him. Seek His touch and His healing. Let Him set you “at liberty.”
We live in soul-crushing times. Bruises occur in the life of every individual, every family, and every church. But before your bruise becomes your bo***ge, let Jesus heal what only He can heal. And if it already has you bound, remember this: He came to set captives free — and that includes you.
2 Timothy 3:1 says, “In the last days perilous times will come.” It says that perilous times will come because of what people in the last days will have become. Then it lists some of their characteristics. Every item on the list can cause bruising, but here are a few of the most extreme. “Lovers of themselves… disobedient to parents, unthankful… unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal.”
And, of course, we bring some of the worst bruises on ourselves. But for all who turn to Him, Jesus has come to “heal the brokenhearted,” a phrase we find earlier in Luke 4:18. All hearts become broken hearts at one time or another and in one way or another. But Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.”
We live in volatile times. Nations shake. Families struggle. Hearts break. But He does not change. In Malachi 4:2, God says, “To you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings.”
