09/26/2020
Are you broken in some way today? Perhaps your heart cries out, and your spirit longs for relief from the troubles of the world that have ravaged your sense of wellbeing? The world can do great harm to us physically, but its greatest damage is inflicted against us spiritually. Ask yourself this... Has pain found its home in your soul today, and if it has are you calling out to God for spiritual healing?
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18 ESV
Long before I could drive a vehicle I would wander the neighborhoods, fields, and forests that surrounded my home. Children are by nature explorers, and as such they learn a great deal about life by witnessing it in the world about them, and by interacting with it in various ways. By virtue of my upbringing, and having lived in many places, I explored the world widely. I experienced many things, but it wasn’t until I found Jesus Christ, and developed a relationship with God that I came to understand how they were meant to speak to me of the divine, and how God meant to interact with me.
“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
Romans 1:19-20 ESV
It was on just such a day of exploration that I found an injured bird on the roadside, and picked it up. There is something about a crippled, or hurting creature that touches our hearts, and so it was on that day. I cradled it in my hands, examined its injuries, then speaking to it softly And lovingly, I prematurely ended my day’s wandering, and headed home to care for it. Over the coming weeks I fed, watered, and loved that bird, and as I nursed it back to health it warmed my heart. Then one day while holding it in my hand it spread its wings and flew up into a nearby tree... it was healed, and in the days ahead the bird stayed nearby in my yard, and would sit there, singing, as if to thank me for healing it. Looking back on that experience I see how God has healed me in like fashion, and how each time He has done so, His loving touch has brought me closer to Him where I sit closer by, and praise Him all he more in song, thanking Him for His mercy.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2-4 ESV
God loves us when we are injured, and He takes us into the palm of His hand and speaks softly to us. So if you are broken today He will pick you up, and hold you close to Him, but you mustn’t struggle too hard to get away, or your injuries will be exasperated. When I cared for the bird in my story, I first put it in an open box, but when it hurt itself trying to escape I put it in a cage, then, as it learned to trust me, I would let it sit on my hand while I fed it... until that wonderful day when it flew into the tree. God heals us like this... he will confine us, or let our pain become nearly intolerable, until in desperation we come to trust Him, and to depend on Him, then when we willingly sit in His hand to be fed He loosens His grip and our healing in Christ begins in earnest.
“so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Ephesians 4:14-16 ESV
So let’s go back to the question I asked you: “Has pain found it’s home in your soul today, and if it has are you calling out to God for spiritual healing?” If your answer was yes, and you are suffering or broken today, then turn to God, and allow Him to take you into His hand. He will hold you gently, speak to you softly, and love you completely. He will heal you, and in doing so, you will warm His heart... that is love... that is God.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for seeing us in our brokenness, and taking us into your hand. Thank you for hearing us call out in pain, or sit suffering in silence, and knowing intuitively how broken we are. There is no injury so great that you can’t fix us, not in our bodies, our minds, or our souls. You are the great healer, and your touch brings us closer to you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who loves, and has mercy, on the wounded and broken in the world. We praise you for sending your Son Jesus to heal the sin that was destroying us, and to defeat the death that was our price before Him. You are majestic Father, and your beauty knows no scar or blemish. You are merciful, and in this way your grace is poured out over us through Jesus, you are truth, and in your Word we are confident of your salvation, and our spending eternity worshipping you in glory. Heal us when we are broken Father, and draw us ever so close to you so that we can live in your house forevermore.
“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 5:7-11 ESV
Rich Forbes