Restoring the Brokenhearted
You were ransomed with a purpose but have you found that the trials of life seem to be holding you back from walking towards and living in that purpose? Challenging relationships, situations, & illnesses can shape and guide your emotions, choices, & outlook till one day you find yourself striving to live and broken in spirit. Despite all of your efforts and good intentions you are simply managing day to day to get by instead of thriving in the abundance that John 10:10 tells us Jesus came to bring. You look at life around you and wonder how it was that you got to this place? And how can you find your way out of it and put life on a different path.
Proverbs 13:12 (KJV) tells us that, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life”.
Waiting and hoping for a change you have no idea how to navigate can literally make a heart sick. High blood pressure, low blood pressure, heart disease, depression, anxiety, cancers, addictions, physical and emotional distresses have increased in epidemic numbers. The heart cries out for change, for deliverance, for justice, for a new beginning. It cries out for a change so significant that once the change comes your heart is immediately filled and overflowing with joy. A joy that is the longing fulfilled that will bring the tree of life as mentioned in Proverbs 13:12. You pray and pray for change yet you see nothing. You hope for a brighter tomorrow yet find your heart growing faint and your hope growing more deferred. You might resign yourself to have been given a thorn in the flesh and that it is your duty to walk this thorn out faithfully OR you may find yourself on a never ending mission to find that one thing that will bring you the change your heart is crying for. Which ever way your thoughts lead you, at some point you find yourself wondering where God is in your suffering and wondering if he cares to step in and help you.
At the core of your cry for change lingers questions you have no answers to. What do you want this change to look like? How would you know this change when it finally comes? How would this change impact your life overall? What does the road look like to get to this change?
Material things and situational changes bring momentary happiness but true transformational change and ongoing contentment in our lives comes from digging deep into the well of heartbreaks and disappointments that have been carried for so long and finding the courage to resolve those pains and root causes that left your heart wounded.
In Luke 4:18-19 (KJV), Jesus stands up in the synagogue and reads the following passage from the book of Isaiah,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”.
These are words which have been quoted many times, words which have become part of the foundational understanding of Jesus’ mission on earth. But what do these words mean to us in our everyday life? What does it really mean to heal the brokenhearted?
The following quote by Tim Pebworth, of the United Church of God, provides a beautiful image of how Luke 4:18 speaks to the heart of Jesus in everyday challenges. He writes,
“He came to heal the brokenhearted. These are people who have been so damaged emotionally and physically that their very being has been crushed and shattered. Christ came to heal those whose backgrounds and circumstances have scarred, shattered and irrevocably destroyed their hearts. This is about physical and emotional abuse. This is about suffering from trauma before we even knew we were suffering. Many people live 18 years with their families growing up and then spend the next 60 years trying to overcome the trauma that occurred in childhood.
Luke 4, says He came to preach deliverance to the captives. This includes those who were in slavery physically, but also mentally, those who have no escape. He also came to give sight to the blind. Literally, he gave sight to the blind, but he also healed those with many different physical infirmities. And lastly, he came to set at liberty those who are oppressed. He freed those who lived under oppressive masters, or who lived under the tyranny of a world ruled by the great adversary.
I believe this verse shows we must begin with the premise that Jesus Christ came to address our physical, mental, and emotional trauma. He cares about our depression and mental anxiety.
(Tim Pebworth, “5 Keys to Good Mental Health”, The Good News, June 2022, used by permission of the United Church of God)
Jesus does care and he suffers with us. This may be comforting for some but for others it may bring more questions than answers. Why doesn’t Jesus just change my situation? Why doesn’t he deliver me from this darkness? Why doesn’t he just change my spouse, children, family, etc so everything will be better? Why does Jesus seem so distant if he cares so much about me?
Jesus has spoken to us in his word about trials and suffering.
James 1:2-4 (KJV) says,
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing”.
Romans 5:3-5 (KJV) says,
“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope. And hope taketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given unto us”.
Romans 8:28 (KJV) says,
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn amongst many bretheren”
God has made it clear that he does not give us perfect lives at conversion nor does he ever promise us one. He does, however, promise to be with us when we encounter trials. He may not take the trial away, in fact, he might allow the trial to remain in order to grow us more into his image as Paul gave us example of in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9. In this verse Paul is speaking of an ailment of some type that he was living with that he referred to as his ”thorn in the flesh”. We do not know what it was Paul was experiencing but we do know that he pleaded with the Lord three times to take this thorn in the flesh away from him,
“For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2Corinthians 12:8-9 (KJV)
While Paul did plead with the Lord to take away his thorn in the flesh, he recognized that in not taking the thorn away he would live in a constant state of humility and dependence upon the Lord. He realized that this state of humility would not only allow for the power of Christ to be made manifest in him but to also allow him to grow into that manifestation. This is a thought so provoking it leads us to consider the role trials truly play in our lives. What might be your “thorn in the flesh”? Is it a thorn that needs to be endured or is it a thorn that needs to be worked out? Knowing that our trials, whether great or small, will provide an opportunity to grow into Christlikeness helps us to see our trial from the Lord’s perspective and see our responsibility in our own growth.
Paul emphasized this point in Phillipians 2:12 (KJV) as he addressed the church in Phillipi over discords that had been sown among the bretheren,
“Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”
He instructed those in Phillipi to “work out” their salvation. Indicating that this is a responsibility of us that begins at our conversion and an expectation that it will continue on throughout our christian life.
What does it mean to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? It is of my opinion, that it speaks to an ongoing and active state of purposing to grow and overcome those character traits, hurts, and trials that have plagued our lives so that we may grow into true christlike character. The patterns of our lives are born from a sin nature and lived out in our experiences through the sin nature. Our sinful ways are not done away with at the moment of conversion. These sinful ways and painful wounds can encompass so much of who we are that they require an ongoing effort to be worked out rather than to be immediately done away with. Would we really know how to act and react if they were done away with immediately? Likely No. We would likely still do as we have been conditioned to do, therefore, we must work these things out and replace them with new learned behaviors that require diligent ongoing efforts to maintain. Change and growth become a choice that occurs over time with sincere effort on our part.
Paul continues in Phillipians 2:13-15 (KJV),
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.”
It is of my opinion that to progressively work out your salvation is to live a life of ongoing self reflection, repentance, and forgiveness which is continuously working towards the healing of yourself spiritually, emotionally, and physically to produce growth that will enable you to stand in a world full of challenges and persevere till the end. To do this takes commitment, it takes work, it takes courage. It takes accountability to yourself and to God for your part in your trials, healing, and growth.
This road towards growth and change is not always something that can be done on your own. During these times it is helpful to have someone else to help you look in at your situation with new eyes and help you identify problematic roots you might not be seeing. It is helpful to have someone who can help you take the bigger picture and break it down into smaller pieces to help it all make sense. Someone to walk with you and help you to make progressive steps on the path towards healing and change.
These words aren’t simply the words of a counselor offering encouragement and hope but also the words of someone who has lived through the valley of despair from the traumas and experiences of life and climbed out on the other side. Exploring and confronting the roots of ongoing trials brings transformative change which will enable you to climb out of that valley and put the trial behind you, not as forgotten but as a stepping stone to where you are going. You were ransomed with a purpose but are the trials of life holding you back from walking towards and living in that purpose?
It is my heart to walk with you and help you to understand the bigger picture of your situation and how you got to this place. Together we can begin that journey of confronting and overcoming roots of your challenges encouraging transformative change in the process. I offer encouragement and insight to you from God’s word and hope from experience that a better tomorrow is possible, that God still has plans for a hope and future in your life (Jeremiah 29:11), and that patience will have its perfect work in the process (James 1:4). This is my heart and commitment to you as you journey on the path to becoming all you were purposed to be.