“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3) “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18). “He (God the Father) has sent me (Jesus) to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives” (Isa. 61:1)
Dear Jesus, a song from the soundtrack of my youth asks the question, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?” It’s an important question, not asked enough. I know what I did with mine. I medicated it poorly. I tried to bandage my heart wounds with denial, disconnect, and distancing myself from anything or anyone that threatened more pain. None of those end well.
I was a false prophet to myself—like those you rebuked in Jeremiah’s day, for “healing the wounds of my people lightly” (Jer. 6:14). And because I wouldn’t make time for my pain, I had little patience, kindness, and presence to offer others in their pain.
Fortunately, the tinker-toy, scotch taped scaffolding of my self-healing collapsed under the weight of your grace. You came near Jesus, and you haven’t left. To suffer is to be human, but to experience healing for our heart wounds is to be yours. Not content just to prepare your Bride for heaven, you bring a good measure of heart-healing that we might come alive before we die.
By your mercy, gentleness, and kindness, I’m still in the healing journey—a process that has a most wonderful end in view (Rev. 21:1-22:6). Our wounds from loss, the fear of more trauma, and the shame we still bear of not being enough… all these things matter to you and you claim them. Jesus, “you give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for,” for you are a most “wonderful, merciful Savior” indeed. So Very Amen.