The Healer of Hurting Hearts

This headline captured my attention:

Scientists Working to Mend Broken Hearts

“It is hard to mend a broken heart, but in a few years, doctors might be able to do essentially that,” the article began.

Further reading indicated that the article was about scientists discovering that patients suffering heart attacks can grow new heart muscle, as reported in a Wall Street Journal article by Betsy McKay.

My mind, however, immediately thought of the myriads of people suffering emotionally from a broken heart.

Heartbreak, which may occur through death, divorce, disappointment, or betrayal of a friend, family member, or brother in Christ, is one of the most painful experiences in life.

When we are suffering emotional heartbreak, we may wonder, “Where is God when I need Him?” “Why did He allow this to happen to me?” “How and where can I find help and hope?

The Bible assures us that God knows our hurt. God hears our plaintive cry. And God cares about our plight. Consider the experience of the Psalmist when he suffered heartbreak, and his reassuring words

Ps 34:17-18
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.

Ps 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.

What a touching, tender picture of our Heavenly Father serving as both a physician and a comforter. Experts in the Hebrew language explain the word translated “binds up” literally means to bandage or wrap around. Unlike unsympathetic people who dismiss our pain by saying, “Get over it,” God gently tends to the hurting, wounded soul, like a loving parent attending to a crying child. To paraphrase Charles Spurgeon, “When we are broken, God does not discard us. He gently gathers the pieces and, with His grace, creates something even more beautiful.”

Since Jesus came to earth not only to be our sacrifice for sin, but to reveal the character of the Father, it’s not surprising to find Him quoting Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy and applying it to Himself at the beginning of His ministry.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
(Lk. 4:18)

One emotion that often describes Jesus in His interactions with people is “compassion.” The biographies frequently relate the story of Jesus’ encounter with someone who was physically, emotionally, or spiritually suffering and said, “He was moved with compassion.

Jesus restored sight to the blind, cleansed the leper, cured the lame, raised the dead, lifted the downtrodden and disenfranchised of society, and restored hope to the hopeless. More importantly, He offered — and still provides today — healing from sin’s wound, its nagging guilt, and its eternal consequences.

Too often, people, even some Christians, allow life’s hurts to cause despair, doubt their faith, and become bitter. Ironically, God may use your pain and problems to draw you closer to Him. When Paul earnestly prayed for relief from his “thorn in the flesh,” God answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Paul believed and embraced God’s response, allowing the pain to make him better rather than bitter. To strengthen instead of weaken him. And to glorify the Lord instead of grumbling. God’s grace empowered Paul, rather than enslaving him to prideful self-reliance.

Be advised that emotional and spiritual healing may not occur immediately. Like physical wounds, it may require time, effort, energy, proper care, and spiritual balm to mend the troubled soul. However, through prayer, scriptural meditation, Biblical counsel, family-fellowship, and God’s providence, help and healing can become a reality.

Whatever troubling issue you’re facing today, remember the words of Corrie ten Boom, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed it, “God is our refuge not only from the storms of life but also from the storm within.”

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman