Joy in Brokenness

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

My dad said that so many times to me, because I was always messing with stuff. I always wanted to know how things worked, and why they didn't. Whenever something broke and he replaced it, he would let me have the old, broken one, and I would take it apart and mess with it until I understood why it broke, and either fixed it, or acknowledged it was unfixable. I love to fix things... and I rarely admit I can't fix something. The heart, though, is a total mystery to me. The things people do, the things I do, because of the heart... I'll never understand. But there is one thing I have noticed: it's the broken heart that runs to Father, that is never denied the comfort of His arms.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:17-18

Somehow, Father is motivated is some deeper way to respond to the call of one whose heart is broken. The scriptures says, "He is close..." oh, my, that is so amazing, but disturbing in a way...



Let's take a look at why this might be. I really find it a bit hard to believe God just wants us to have a broken heart and hurt all the time. I know God is good, and that just does not sound good at all. I have had my heart broken severely several times, and I will confess, I do not like it one bit. My brother died when I was 19, my son died when he was 16 months old, and my dad died a few years ago... add to that the many failures, disappointments, etc... My heart has been broken into so many pieces at so many different times, I fail to believe it is God's will that I suffer such deep heart ache.

If you have children, think about how you feel when you see them struggle, and when their heart gets broken. I have two beautiful, passionate, amazing girls... and I have seen both of them working through pain and heartache. Oh, how it hurts to even think about them hurting. I wanted to run to them, wrap them in my arms and make everything better. And I would do that, with the exception of the making everything better. In our closeness, we talked about the hurt, I listened, and offered small snippets of encouragement and hope. It didn't fix anything, but after some time, they were able to see a bigger picture and move through the pain to the other side. I have seen that they have grown through these times.

Perhaps God gives us children so we can see what He sees; so we can feel something close to what He feels. When we hurt, I think, in some sense, He hurts. His passion and compassion for us motivates Him to run to us, comfort us, and lead us to see the bigger picture. Most of the time, I believe, He didn't cause the heartache, but He was always there to pick up the pieces. And maybe sometimes, He is the instigator of the hurt... but if you know He is good, then you can also know that He is working things out for the good of His plan (Romans 8:28). He takes no pleasure in the pain of His children - not anymore than you do. But He has immense Joy to see us grow through our brokenness and heartache... when we get to the other side and we are stronger, and have a more real sense of the truth. Oh, yes.. He loves when we are closer to the Truth, as He is Truth. And He wants to be close to us, so much so that He wants to live in us!

If you have placed your faith in Jesus, and trust that His sacrifice on the cross for the sin of the world included your sin, and you are trusting Him now, you are a child of God. Father loves you. He knows your hurt, your struggles, and your brokenness. He even knows your sin, your secret sin no one else knows about. (Think about that for a moment.) And still, He loves you more than you can ever imagine. He wants to heal your hurt, strengthen you through your struggles, replace your brokenness with wholeness, and then fill you up to overflowing. He is the Perfect Father, who knows just what to do to help you become all that you were created to be. Don't be afraid to call on Him, even if your brokenness is your own fault... He doesn't care where you have been but only that your brokenness is bringing you to Him. He is able to forgive you, to heal you, and to help you see the reality of this life, and of the next... I promise that you will sense His great Love if you only call on Him. You will be changed.

There is Joy in brokenness, because Father runs to those who are broken, and Joy comes with His presence.