A Note for Those with Broken Hearts
A Note for Those with Broken Hearts
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18 (ESV)
God’s word tells us this is so, so it’s true — the kind of true that you and I can bank on. It’s a sure thing. It’s true, whether it feels true or not. It’s true, whether we can see how or not. It’s true, whether we believe it is or not.
All of us experience pain in our lives, and not one of us enjoys it. But let me both caution and encourage you with these things…
As much as you may hate whatever you’ve been through or are going through, be careful not to discount your pain, and don’t demonize it either.
Don’t wish it away; but at the same time, don’t embrace it to the point of just settling into it, despairingly.
Pain is not your enemy, but it’s also not your friend.
Pain is a tool that shapes you, for better or for worse, depending on how you choose to respond to it. And it might just be the key that unlocks the doors to your closest encounters with Jesus here on this earth — if you’re willing to walk through those doors and navigate the pain with Him.
Your pain has purpose. And for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, we have the comfort of this promise:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28 (NIV)
Also, be careful not covet someone else’s life. Don’t long for for their blessings, and don’t wish for someone else’s pain that looks more manageable than your own.
Remember that someone else is probably looking at you right now and wishing they had your life instead of theirs. But neither one of you sees the full picture of what the other has to carry, and neither one of you would wish to trade, if you did.
I think perhaps we feel pain (or the associated emotions) more easily and more intensely than anything else. And because of that, it’s easier for us to recognize and focus on our hardships than our blessings.
On the other hand, when witnessing or peering into the lives of other people, the opposite is often true — we see their blessings, but forget to consider the hardships that came along with them.
Your pain is your pain. There’s nothing fair about it, nothing pleasant nor comfortable, and most of it is likely nothing that you deserved or brought upon yourself.
But it’s still your pain, nonetheless.
And if you desire for the Healer to make you whole — to bind up your broken heart — you must accept your pain fully as your own. There is no other way.
So, you with the broken heart and the crushed spirit — I have good news for you…
Jesus is nearby. He’s closer than He seems. I know so, because He says so. So let’s trust Him, that it’s true.
When we allow our pain to cause us to mistrust Jesus or to pull away from Him, that distancing only further perpetuates the false belief that He has left us alone in our pain.
But in that scenario, He hasn’t left us; we’re the ones who have pushed Him away or distanced ourselves from Him. And our doing so robs us of the joy of experiencing and understanding the truth of this beautiful promise:
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit - Psalm 34:18 (ESV)
So, my brokenhearted friends —
Those of you with crushed spirits —
Fix your eyes on Jesus — not on your hurt, not on your “excessively blessed” neighbor, not even on the person who caused your pain — just on Jesus. Just on the One who promises to be close to the brokenhearted and to save those who are crushed in spirit.
He’ll walk you through your pain and into wholeness; and along the way, you may even find that your pain was a blessing in disguise...
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There is no other way.
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