by Brooke Holt
Brooke’s Blog: Healing for the Broken Heart
Psalm 147:3: “The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
None of us avoids a broken heart. We walk through life getting wounded. Some of us are wounded severely in childhood. From a very early age, we learn the defence mechanism of building walls to protect our hearts. Nevertheless, even guarded hearts get broken. Broken hearts are part of life in this fallen world.
The best intended mothers try to mend broken hearts. They make cookies, buy treats or take special trips to a store or to the movies. With good intentions and deep desire, they try to fix their child’s broken heart. The pain can lessen or be momentarily forgotten with the physical distractions, but the brokenness remains. Adults use the same diversions to numb the pain of their broken hearts: food, alcohol, sex, shopping, etc. Again, the surface pain can be forgotten temporarily, but the deeper brokenness remains.
In Psalm 147, we read about the character of our God: He determines the number of stars and gives them their names; He is abundant in power and has understanding beyond all measure; He lifts up the humble but casts the wicked to the ground (verses 4-6). Our God has all power and all understanding and He cares about our broken hearts; He longs to bind up our wounds.
Unlike the well intended mother, God has the power to heal the broken heart. In fact, He is the only One who has that power. God sees inside each one of us. He knows the brokenness; He understands why it is there; and He desires to heal. The God of all creation longs to heal our broken hearts. God’s care for the broken heart is awe-inspiring!
We don’t hesitate to call on the doctor when in need of physical healing, yet we seldom call on the great physician when in need of soul healing. Earthly doctors have limited understanding and power. Our great heavenly physician has all understanding and all power. Why are we not in His office? The Lord heals the broken heart and binds up the wounds of those who seek Him, who trust Him, who humble themselves before Him. Verse 6 says, “The Lord lifts up the humble.”
May we humbly approach our almighty God trusting Him with our broken hearts. Every broken piece of our heart is an opportunity for God’s healing touch, for light to shine in darkness, for God to be glorified. Let’s stop walking around brokenhearted. There is healing, but only in One person, One place – the Great Physician who made us, knows us and loves us infinitely more than we could ever imagine. Our hearts are His home, His treasure!