Healing For The Brokenhearted

"Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.  And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none." (Psalms 69:20 NASU)  Read in context one sees clearly that this passage of scripture refers to Jesus toward the very end of his life on earth when facing the cross and perhaps, very possibly, on the cross itself.  The heart has been broken to the point of sickness. 

Is there a person whose heart has never been crushed with sorrow, one whose heart has never been broken?  Most of us who are older have experienced it and sooner or later almost everyone will if they have not already.  There are the tears that flow freely and that once in motion cannot be stopped until the well has run dry but the well soon fills back up and there they go again as though they cannot be stopped.  Only the utmost strength of the will can hold them back, a will that seems to be in a life-and-death struggle with the heart. 

Food no longer matters.  The heart is too ill to even think of food.  Hunger has vanished so one can go days with barely a bite and it matters not in the least for the heart is sick.  The stomach feels as though it has taken a body blow.  All the breath has been sucked out of one's being.  Nothing matters any longer, nothing at all, all feeling is gone, and whether it be life or death matters little to none? 

There is no longer any fear for fear has been struck down.  The worst fear has achieved victory so any other thing that could come along would be but nothing.  There is no longer anything to fear.  The only emotion left is heart-wrenching sorrow.  The heart is numb and immune to further pain or insult.  Do what you will to me, it matters not. 

The greatest hurt in the world is a broken heart.  Nothing hurts worse than to have one's heart crushed.  It often comes from those we love most making the hurt almost unbearable.  We love them greatly and thought they loved us as well and then they desert us as though we were little to nothing to them. 

But there are other avenues for broken hearts as well.  A parent loses a child to death or a spouse is lost.  A healthy vigorous young man goes off to war and comes home with injuries so severe as to make a normal life impossible and hopes and dreams for the future are squashed.  His heart is broken but also that of his loved ones. 

The elderly go into nursing homes, they know it is to be permanent, and it seems family do not care or love them anymore.  The heart is broken.  Deep sorrow and sadness seem to be all that is left and old people are not supposed to cry.  But the heart is broken. 

Can a broken heart be mended?  At the time it seems life will simply stop and that the heart will never recover.  Nevertheless, hearts can be healed even though a scar may always cover the wound that was received.  Scars are eventually forgotten in the sense that the day comes when they no longer interfere with everyday life and life goes on. 

The Bible teaches that Jesus too suffered from a broken heart just as we have.  Jesus has often been called the man of sorrows based on Isa. 53.  Listen to a little of the prophet Isaiah as he talks about Jesus as he foresees the future.  "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." (Isa. 53:3 NASU)  Why do you think Jesus was a man of sorrows?  Was it physical affliction?  Was it poverty?  It was a heart man broke.  

The Psalmist says, speaking of Jesus prophetically, "But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.  All who see me sneer at me." (Psalms 22:6 NASU)  John says, "He came to His own, and those who were his own did not receive Him." (John 1:11 NASU)  Was the heart of Jesus broken?  When for the last time he saw Jerusalem from a distance as he was about to enter therein it is said, "He saw the city and wept over it." (Luke 19:41 NASU)  Broken hearts weep, not hearts filled with joy. 

Yes, Jesus knows what it is to shed tears of sorrow and to have his heart broken.  In fact, he knows all about us for he "likewise also partook of the same" (Heb. 2:14), that is flesh and blood.  He was "tempted in all things as we are." (Heb. 4:15)  "He had to be made like His brethren in all things." (Heb. 2:17 NASU)  Yes, it may be that the cause of our broken heart may differ from the cause of Jesus' broken heart but is not a broken heart a broken heart?  Is pain, not pain?  Is sorrow not sorrow?  Must one's heart be crushed by a particular thing to call it a broken heart? 

Can God help us mend?  God understands that in this life there are things that are too big for us to deal with alone.  We are put in a position where we cannot act proactively for we have lost that power.  Events have overwhelmed us.  We need outside help. 

What can God do?  We might respond what is there that God cannot do?  Do you believe God can and does intervene in the affairs of men?  If he does not why then do you pray? 

Let me quote a passage to you from Psalms 34:18-19 (NASU), "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all."  In this passage, God is talking to his children.  Are you a child of God?  If so then there is help.  Three things from this passage must be considered. 

(1) Am I a righteous person?  If I want God to hear my prayer and help me then if I am not a righteous person I need to take the steps necessary to become one.  Obeying the gospel from the heart is the remedy for that if one has never done so.  For those who have obeyed the gospel but have not been faithful then to be a righteous person, one needs to repent, pray for forgiveness, and seek to live righteously henceforth.  For those who are faithful, they need to believe the Lord is near them and will deliver them out of their affliction.  They need to pray sincerely that if the affliction cannot be removed it will at least be made bearable.  James says, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16 NKJV) 

(2) In the second place God is not far from a person whose heart has been broken.  That is what the text says.  We need to believe that.  How can we say we believe the Bible and yet will not believe this?  His desire is to lift us up again and renew life within our spirit, to get us to where we want to go on living again.  We need to seek him in his own appointed way to enable him to do this for us.  So, the point is this--we have something to do with our healing.  We can reach out to God, we can seek him. 

(3) The Psalmists says, in the third place, while the righteous have many afflictions God will deliver them out of them all.  What does this mean?  It means things will get better.  The heart can and will be mended in God's own time.  When things are at their worst there is about to be a change, gradual though it may be, for God is a deliverer--a change for the better is on its way. 

The Psalmist says in Psalms 147:3, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (NASU)  Jesus says of himself, "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 preach deliverance to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19 NKJV)  God is able.  We need to trust him as to how best to do it and in his own time frame.  

Broken hearts bring us extreme suffering but also restless turmoil and the absence of peace.  Sleepless nights come and go.  The mind is continually agitated and at war and we feel as though we cannot stand another day of it.  As God can heal the brokenhearted he can also restore to us peace and comfort.  Paul says that God the Father is, "the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." (2 Cor. 1:3 NASU)  Comfort is to be understood not as an easy chair or soft bed but comfort of heart and soul.  God is the source. 

Solomon wrote many years ago by inspiration when he said in Prov. 3:1-2, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you." (NASU)  It is needful for a man or woman to walk with God to get his help.  One of the greatest blessings a man of God has is peace to overcome the turmoil of life.  The righteous soul may have many troubles and sorrows but peace is with God.  He helps his children and can bring comfort to troubled souls. 

We often pray but fail to take into account, if God is to help us, some things that are necessary on our part.  John says, "Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." (1 John 3:22 NASU)  Have we led that kind of life--keeping his commandments and doing those things pleasing in his sight?  If not will we repent and begin to live that way?  Will we obey God?  If so John says "we receive from Him" whatever we ask. 

What is it we ought to ask if our heart is broken?  Should we ask that past history be altered?  Is that what John is speaking about, altering history so the broken heart will vanish that way?  We know better.  We can ask God to help us heal and go on with life and if we are faithful and obedient, and love him as we should, we have his promise of his help as per John's statement. 

God is the God of peace. (Rom. 15:33)  Paul, in speaking to God's children says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7 NASU) 

The turmoil of the broken heart can be healed.  Live faithfully and trust God.  He will answer your prayer.  "Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all."  (2 Thess. 3:16 NKJV)  When the scripture says give you peace in every way that includes overcoming heartbreak. 

Christians are told to "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:15 NASU)  One needs grace to heal a broken heart.  It is a time of need.  The Holy Spirit speaking through James says, "Is anyone among you suffering?  Let him pray." (James 5:13 NAS)  Let us pray at the throne of grace for God's power to heal our broken hearts.  

In God, we find healing, comfort, and peace and those things are worth more than the weight of the world in gold.  They are ours for the asking if we will but believe and obey God and ask him for grace in our time of need. 

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Is Today Yesterday—America and Corinth

Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccl. 1:9 NKJV)  When it comes to human behavior it is hard to argue that anything has changed since Solomon’s day well over 2,000 years ago.  Human pride and arrogance just seem to roll on from one generation to the next endlessly.  I was reminded of that today (4/6/2015) when I was reading from 1 Cor. 5, Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth.

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!  And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.”  (1 Cor. 5:1-2 NKJV)

While America is certainly not a church it seems it has much the same attitude toward sin that the church at Corinth was displaying.  There is no mourning in America today over adultery, homosexuality, fornication, lying, deception, malice, drunkenness, you name it.  In fact, for some politicians their sins make them more popular with the public.  Bill Clinton was one notorious example of that.  Bill Bennett’s book, The Death of Outrage, was written as a direct response to the public’s reaction to that sordid episode.

Being caught in a lie no longer disqualifies one from holding even the highest office in the land.  We have lied so much and for so long people no longer think much about it and it no longer seems to taint your character in the eyes of the public at large with but few exceptions.  Harry Reid, the senator from Nevada, just admitted lying about Mitt Romney not paying any taxes for 10 years but where is the public outrage?  There is very little of it.

There is little difference with other sins.  The quickest way for an actress to gain fame and fortune seems to be to take her clothes off and display herself publicly, maybe even get into pornography, and as for drunkenness why everyone does it do they not?  There is no shame in America anymore.  If you are on your fifth live-in arrangement so what?  Who really cares? We will tolerate anything in America.  Sounds like Corinth to me.  We will in the name of toleration tolerate the very things that will lead to our personal and national destruction. 

What outrage we do see today is against Christianity, not against sin and evil doing.  We are experiencing the evolution of morals in America where we now call evil good and good evil.  It is a destructive evolution for God has said, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” (Isa. 5:20 NKJV)

But why have we become this way?  I think the following remark from Bill Bennett’s book, The Death of Outrage, is on the mark:

“Why have we been drawn toward a culture of permissiveness?  My former philosophy professor John Silber was correct when he spoke of an ‘invitation to mutual corruption.’  We are hesitant to impose upon ourselves a common moral code because we want our own exemptions.” (Page 120)

We in America like to blame our leaders for our problems as a nation but the problem lies within us, each of us.  We have become proud, puffed up much like the Corinthians.  Add to that we enjoy our own personal sins and do not want to give them up.  Living righteously no longer matters to us and we no longer demand it of our elected officials, the invitation to mutual corruption, and then we wonder what has happened to our country.

The answer to our problems lies within each of us.  While it is true “there is none righteous” (Rom. 3:10 NKJV), we are not righteous on our own, don’t you think we might all be better off and our nation be better off if we made an attempt to live righteously?  The desire to do so has been lost but God has given us free will.  We can change if we will just will to do so.  With God’s help, it is not impossible for men and women to live godly righteous lives.  If there is not a change, a sort of national repentance, we are doomed and on a personal level Jesus put it bluntly, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3 NKJV)    

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Psalms 7:11—"God is Angry With the Wicked Every Day"

There are things a person ought to know about God.  In fact, we ought to know all we can about God in view of the fact that, "The LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." (Psalms 100:3 NKJV)

In many ways, life is a great mystery.  There is only so much we can know about it but the one thing that is certain is that we came from God.  It is either that or the Bible is a lie.  It is either that or life came from non-living matter (which, I might add, brings another question—where did the non-living matter come from). 

Solomon, by inspiration, wrote, "Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed…Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it."  (Eccl. 12:6-7 NKJV)  One day we must all give an account of our lives before God.  This is the fate God has destined for us.

"For it is written:  'As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.'  So then each of us shall give account of himself to God." (Rom. 14:11-12 NKJV)

God is only going to make two divisions on the Day of Judgment and all those who have ever lived will be placed in one division or the other.  "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left." (Matt. 25:32-33 NKJV)  Of the goats set on the left hand Jesus says, "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'" (Matt. 25:41 NKJV)  He goes on and says, "These will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matt. 25:46 NKJV)

This brings me to Psalms 7:11, the subject of this piece.  The entirety of Psalms 7:11 reads, "God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day." (NKJV)  With God man is either justified (we might say made righteous or forgiven) or else he must go into the category of the wicked.  Man is either a sheep or a goat as God gives no other options.

Does this mean that by man's standards or yours or mine that all the wicked are what we Americans normally think of as wicked men?  Not at all!  Many are great guys or gals in that they are honest in their dealings, kind to and thoughtful of others, friendly, do a lot of good deeds, and are often very likable people and fun to be around.  Often their only discernable fault is that they have left God out of their lives but you see that is as big as it gets.  How does one leave his creator out of his life and not give him any thought or honor or respect?  How does one live his life as though God does not matter?

What if we treated a mother or father, a son or daughter, a wife or husband this way?  What then?  Could it be said we love them, that we respect and honor them, and that we care about them? 

When we treat God like he is nothing to us and he does not matter how can we think we are going to be seen as sheep in his eyes?  We have obviously shown we are not concerned about him.  We have treated him with contempt whether we set out to do it intentionally or not.  Is such a man wicked?  Well, maybe not by man's measurements but how about by God's? 

When we treat God this way we deeply offend him and figuratively kick sand in his face.  Can we blame him if he is angry with us?  The Bible teaches God has feelings as well as man does (Gen. 6:6).  We hurt him when we do not care about him.  Have you ever had anyone you love treat you that way?  You love them but they treat you in such a way so that you know by their actions they really do not care about you.  If so you know a little about how God must feel when a man casts God from his life or will not allow him to enter in.

Remember John 3:16?  God loves us and we treat him as though he was to be avoided at all cost, as though he was evil.  No, we may not do these things intentionally but that does not change the reality of our actions. 

I memorized Psalms 7:11 because I felt it was something I needed to keep in mind.  God is longsuffering with us not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9) but the fact that my life or your life is seemingly going along well does not mean God is well pleased with us.  It may only be that in God's goodness he is exercising forbearance and longsuffering in an effort to lead you or me to repentance (Rom. 2:4 NKJV). 

I don't care how much your friends think of you they do not love you like God does and they are utterly powerless to save you.  Neither are they going with you the day you die.   We all die alone.  Even on D-Day when men were dying all over the French beachheads during WW II each had to make the trip to eternity alone whether a human hand held theirs or not.  Many left for eternity that day but each went alone.  The only friend man has capable of being with him through his darkest hour is God.

When that day comes, and it may sneak up on you unexpectedly and early in life, and it will certainly come late in life if you escape it in your youth and middle age years, do you want to face an angry God?  Are you able to take on God and win?  Do you want to be foolish enough to try that? 

Psalms 7:11b is very short, just a few words.  The message is powerful and ought to be life-changing.  Is it going to change your life?  If your attitude toward God and his word needs changing and you do not change then you are sure to face an angry God.

Man has been given free will and gets to choose the road he/she will take with all the consequences that come with that.  Put another way man gets to reap what he has sown (Gal. 6:7) and will indeed do so.  "The way of the unfaithful is hard." (Prov. 13:15 NKJV)  It is a way that is too hard for me to travel intentionally.  I cannot take on God and win.  It is my hope for you who read this that you come to the same conclusion for yourself.  One has not known terror until he faces an angry God on the Day of Judgment.

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