HE HEALS THE BROKENHEARTED

It is my contention that we are often brokenhearted but don't know it. And then, I believe that there are times when we are but we never think to verbalize it, inwardly or outwardly. Brokenheartedness can become such a commonplace occurrence in our lives that we just keep going under the banner, "What difference does it make?"

A horrid case in point would be the women in countries that I cannot name and could not locate on a map who live day in and day out with rape, hunger, stolen children and murder as the general way of life. I picture them existing now without emotion, without hope, not knowing even what hope is. My soul grieves for them. My cares seem like a single drip from a faucet compared to their raging river of anguish.

Yet, even in light of my ache for people without hope anywhere in the world, I recently owned up to my brokenheartedness. It has been there for a while, greatly due to the homegoing of my dear Ken and partly due to disappointments all around me, but two nights ago, I called it what it is.

Not able to sleep (which is not entirely unusual), I slid from my bed onto the floor where I often have my devotions. I stretched out before my Great God and for the longest time could say nothing. I don't know if it was because there was too much to say or because I had nothing to say. Either way, naked spiritually, it was the perfect place to be in my condition.

Finally, I cried out in a whisper, repeatedly, slowly, "I'm brokenhearted, Lord. I'm brokenhearted. I'm just plain brokenhearted." I told Him that I thought that this was the sum and substance of my life and that I thought that I could have made it through the loss of Ken if the other issues were not so heavy and intense.

Then, I waited. I knew about the verses where God talks about Himself and brokenheartedness, but I also knew that a fresh look at the words upon the pages of His Word was imperative. The concordance led me where I needed to go.

The first place I went was to Isaiah 61:1. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...."

I knew this was about Jesus. He Himself made that clear when He read the Scriptures in the temple, but when I went to look at that passage in Luke 4, "healing the brokenhearted" was not on the list. I was disappointed. I wondered why. Then I didn't care. If it was in Isaiah and we all know the passage is about our Savior, then "He heals the brokenhearted." (I found later that it is in most versions but not the ESV.)

I was quite cool with that.

Then I read Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

I did not get an emotional high. What happened was an intellectual reassurance of the truth.

The last place I went was Psalm 147:1-3. "Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (That little line was a booster, since I count heavily on watching His faithfulness to the Jews.) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

As I said, there was no fanfare or ectasy. Every word in the Bible is true and has become increasingly more a part of me as I age. Therefore, what happened right there laying facedown on the floor was nothing...yet, it was something. Slowly I climbed back into bed with reminders of how much God cares about me "pinned" to my heart. I was still brokenhearted, but I had just received a personal message from God Himself that He heals such folk. I went to sleep.

The next day, not realizing it at all until well into Monday's routine, it dawned on me that I was not brokenhearted. Just quietly and calmly, I noticed. I must tell you that in reality, I was not surprised at all. Humbly, I thanked the Lord for His solid, trustworthy Word. If He says He heals the brokenhearted, then He heals the brokenhearted.

The whole thing did more for me than just heal my heart. There was a huge reminder in the whole thing that we can explicitly trust God, His Word and His promise to hear our cry. He is not a God afar off!