21 January 2022
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (Psalm 34:18)
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)
Life is full of pain and loss. It just is. That’s not all it’s full of, to be sure. But there’s no denying that injury and grief, betrayal and sorrow find their way to each of us…sooner or later.
Such trauma doesn’t discriminate between rich and poor, young and old. It does not care whether we seem undeserving or if we think we’ve already had our fair share. It shows up uninvited and wrecks its havoc, leaving us to inventory the damage and clean up the mess.
If we had to do this alone, it would be trial upon tragedy. But we don’t. Not at all.
The good news of the Gospel is that God is with us; the comforting, even surprising news is that He is especially with us when our hearts are broken and our spirits crushed. His empathy is its own mystery, to be sure, but it is nonetheless reality.
I can’t help but think this is because God is, in some sense, continually brokenhearted. He’s eternally joyful too, of course, and perfectly peaceful, but the rebellion of His children and the injustices they commit against each other, the cries He hears and the crimes He sees must all bring their own, unimaginable for us, heartbreak.
So God is near us in our pain. We don’t really have to ask Him to join us in it, He’s already there, eager to do what most of the world gives Him no room to do: heal. Which is a pity beyond words because He’s so good at it.
THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP…
Why does this seem to be so hard for some to understand? We won’t enjoy the beautiful racial unity we (say) want without some brutal, radical honesty about what has kept us from it.
“Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. …They prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking.”
A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God
FROM MY READING…
I have always found this concept compelling wherever I encounter it: Experiencing and enjoying holiness in any measure comes not mainly by our white-knuckled, perspiring resistance to sin, but by our wholehearted, passionate delight in God’s beautiful goodness. Jackie Hill Perry drives this point home. I’ll never tire of hearing it.
“The call to a holy life has commonly presented God’s hatred of sin as the primary incentive of purity in contrast to exalting God Himself as the reason. …If and when holiness is prescribed in a way that doesn’t involve addressing the underlying belief systems leading to sin, we’re potentially fumbling the ball. …We have supposed that the way to help people be holy is to just tell them to ‘stop sinning,’ when in fact, lasting transformation is a spiritual consequence of ‘beholding the glory of the Lord’ (2 Cor. 3:18).That’s why we’re here: to behold. To set our sights on a higher love.”
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STILL WORK TO DO…
From three-quarters to one-tenth…
It’s easy to feel like the world’s largest problems—extreme poverty, for instance—are unsolvable, even inevitable. But this article makes it clear that fostering thoughtful economic growth is a potent way to love our neighbors around the world.
A PRAYER TO BREATHE…
“Lord, heal my hurting heart. I know you have a plan for my pain.”