Jesus Heals the Brokenhearted

It is a frustrating lie to believe – that pain and sorrow will go away quickly, leave little trace. Some pain the Lord does not intend to remove, at least not yet. Some bruises from sin, even repented of and forgiven sin, remain – guilt, uneasiness, regret, a tender conscience – grace’s call to forsake.

                We need to be more honest about pain and sorrow. Pills will not help, or alcohol, or supplements, or #MeToo rants. God is our healer – by grace – in his time – by his special oil of gladness, the Holy Spirit applying saving love and understanding to our hearts. By faith waiting for this oil, we can say in pain, “It is good for me to be afflicted.” I rejoice in these blowing winds of trial and sorrow, for they are driving my roots into Jesus Christ.

                The world’s furor to get rid of all pain and sorrow without God’s oil of gladness exposes the hopelessness of the evolutionary view of man: machine-like, no soul, to be fixed with chemicals, treated as a number, a consumer for big companies. It also manifests rebellion. Often, we should feel sorrow, regret, and guilt. These are conscience’s warning bells, God’s reminders for us to deal with our sins, not avoid them; respond to sorrow, not numb ourselves, until it is too late, when the Trumpet summons.  

                Because he loves us, our wise and loving Father does not always want us pain-free, without sorrow, at the height of joy. These everlasting joys approach, but now he wisely rebukes, or leaves in chronic pain, or removes the comfortable sense of his presence to humble our pride and set us to seeking him with more fervency and faith.

                While we wait for Him to anoint us with the oil of gladness, set your thoughts and love upon Jesus Christ, the Anointed One who shares his anointing with us. It is one of his choice works to “bind up the brokenhearted,” and “to give the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. 61:1-3).

                Gloomy thoughts meet their match when this promise is applied to the grieving soul. My Jesus will bind up my heart. He knows it best. He knows when the time is right, when I have, like Him, learned obedience through suffering (Heb. 5:7-8). I will give my heart to him, not stew in my sorrow. He knows how to give true and wise joy, timely joy. When it is right, he will give me a garment of praise instead of heaviness. I will trust Him and wait on Him until he comes and speaks peace to my soul.

                And is this not one way joy begins its steady return to the soul? Praise! Let us think with adoring, vocal praise upon Him who became the Man of Sorrows. He took all our sin-sorrow upon himself, all the vileness of our contagion, all the misery of our sin-cursed life. He knows. He felt the hurt of loss, drunk the bitterness of betrayal. Death’s jagged knife pierced his pure soul. He suffered and wept and cried for sorrows not his own, but that he took as his own, because he so loved us. Let us praise Him. Praise lifts the heavy spirit to heaven to see Jesus. Praise joins his singing. Praise hears his praying, and the broken heart begins to mend. He is mending it – with Himself.

                He will not let another mend it. He is our merciful and faithful High Priest. He will come and give us a garment of praise. He knows what we can bear, what we need to bear. His heart is all compassion for us – sympathy for our sorrows, for he has experienced them more deeply, more painfully. Reproach once broke his heart. He will not lose you, sorrowing disciple, struggling pilgrim, wayward sheep. He loses none of his. He knows your name still, even if you wish it could be forgotten. He cannot forget. It is engraved upon his nail-pierced hands, branded upon his heart. He who was faithful to you upon the cross will be faithful to give you the oil of gladness. Ask him. Expect him to help you. Do not cry from doubt. Cry in faith. Come this way, great Healer! He always says, “I will come and heal him.”