God Can Heal Your Broken Heart
Ever have a really bad day? Maybe a lot of really bad days?
You probably know (or at least won't be surprised to learn that) the Bible is filled with examples of tragedies, troubles, heartaches, and broken hearts...
- Joseph betrayed by brothers and sold into slavery
- People of Israel were forced to be slaves in Egypt
- Job lost all his family and possessions in one day
- David had to flee from Saul numerous times
- Paul was beaten and imprisoned numerous times
- Jesus beaten, nailed to a cross, and forsaken
If you’re a member of the human race you’ve had your heart broken by any number of things...
Loss of a loved one; Loss of a job; Financial difficulties; Marriage and family problems; Divorce; Abuse; Hurtful words; Physical suffering from disease or poor health; Persistent sinful behavior
When your heart is broken:
- Words cannot describe the pain and suffering.
- You may feel downcast and dejected.
- Sleeping problems. Eating problems.
- Frequent crying. Loneliness.
- Isolation. Depression.
- Feelings of helplessness and despair.
- You may think that no one cares.
- You may think there is no hope for you.
You may even be thinking that God has turned against you!
That He's forgotten about you, or forsaken you. That He just doesn't care enough to help you.
Å Lamentations 3:1-8 v21 v22-24
God Can Heal Your Broken Heart
Psalm 51:17 “A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and He saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 56:8 (David said) “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book.”
God is aware of our pain, our failures, our sorrows, and our heartaches.
Ps 68:20 “Our God is a God of deliverances/victories.”
1 Peter 5:7
“Cast all your cares/anxieties/worries upon God because He cares about you.”
God cares about you, and He can help you get through whatever is troubling you, and that He can heal you of your broken heart.
This morning I want to do more than just tell you that God CAN do that.
I want to tell you and prove to you that He WILL help you, and that He WILL heal you of your broken heart.
Å 2 Kings 20:1-3, 5 (Hezekiah stricken with sickness)
God not only can help you, He WILL help you, and He heal your broken heart.
Psalm 147:3
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their sorrows.”
We can do a lot of things ourselves to help us get through our difficulties, but there is only so much we can do on our own.
Ultimately it is God who is the one who heals our broken hearts. He is the one who knows how to bind up our sorrows.
We can keep holding on to our broken hearts or we can give them over to God and let Him be God and do what He says He will do!
There’s no shame in going to doctor when you are sick. In fact later in psalm we find that God actually delights in those who put their hope in His unfailing love.
Verse 11 says, “God is pleased with those . . . who wait with hope for His mercy.” God wants us to put our hope in Him...
When I was sick recently, I let it go on too long and even missed getting to be with you that week. I promised to go to the doctor sooner next time so I can get what I need.
I’m urging you to go to the Great Physician sooner so you can get what you need to heal your broken heart.
Notice also that the psalmist put this verse in this particular psalm that is all about praising and exalting God for all of His power and His mighty acts.
Å Psalm 147:4-5; 8-9; 15-18
In the midst of all of these grand statements about God’s awesome strength and power, the psalmist says, “God heals the brokenhearted.”
And he says that just as matter-of-factly as God determining the number of the stars in the heavens or making grass to grow, or hurling down hail from the sky.
The psalmist doesn’t say that God may heal the broken hearted sometimes, or that God healed a few broken hearts in the past or only some broken hearts...
...any more than he says that God made some of the stars but not all of them, or only called some of the stars by name.
No, the psalmist states simply, God heals the broken hearted, He binds up their wounds. And He does so just as surely as He determines the number of stars in the sky.
This is who God is. This is what God does.
Present tense. He heals. He has healed. He is healing now. And He will continue to heal the broken hearted and bind up their wounds.
This is the work of God.
Healing broken hearts is also the work of Christ.
In Isaiah 61:1, the prophet Isaiah, speaking in the person of the coming Christ, wrote: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to them that are bound.”
Luke 4:16-19 Early in His ministry, Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath. When He stood up to take His turn to read, He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah, and He read from ch 61.
Å Luke 4:20-21
Notice again what Jesus said: “He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted.”
Do you think Jesus knows about sorrow and grief?
Isaiah 53:3 “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.”
Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses . . . Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
Do you think Jesus can do what He was sent to do?
Do you think Jesus will do He was sent to do?
When you have extra time, take your Bible and read about those who have been sent by God + see if can find someone who was ever sent by God to do His work – and yet failed!
No matter how great the work, how hard the task; no matter how many difficulties had to be encountered, when someone was sent by God to do a job, he was sure to succeed!
- Moses was sent by God to Egypt to stand before Pharaoh and deliver 3 million people out of bondage.
- Joshua was sent by God to conquer the city of Jericho by the most unlikely means. They did nothing more than march and shout as God had instructed.
- Gideon was sent by God to defeat the Midianites with only 300 men. They did nothing more than blow their trumpets and break their pitchers as God had instructed.
- Elijah the prophet was sent by God to a widow who lived in Zarephath. She had very little food, and then her son died.
- Jonah was sent by God to preach to the people of Nineveh. Jonah was determined not to do what God sent him to do.
Now, do you think for a moment that Jesus is going to fail to do something that God sent Him to do?
If all these other men sent by God succeeded in doing their work, do you think the Son of God is going to fail?
Do you think, if He has come to heal broken hearts, He is going to fail to do that?
Do you think there is a heart so bruised and broken that it can't be healed by Him?
Jesus can and will heal every broken heart!
There’s not a sorrow or a grief or a situation so terrible that the Lord cannot fix and overcome!
Let me remind you of these folks and their sorrows…
- Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. By the power of God, he was made second in command in all of Egypt!
- The people of Israel became slaves in Egypt. By the power of God, they crossed the Red Sea and eventually made it into the promised land!
- Job lost all his family and all his possessions in one day. By the power of God, at the end of the story, all his family and all his possessions were restored to him!
- David had to flee many times from Saul who was trying to kill him. By the power of God, after Saul, David was made King of Israel!
- Paul was beaten and imprisoned on numerous occasions. By the power of God, Paul knew he had a crown of glory laid up for him in heaven!
- Jesus was beaten, nailed to a cross, and forsaken by His own Father. By the power of God, He was raised from the dead and is now sitting on His throne forever and ever!
Let me share one more passage with you…
Romans 8:31-32 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
Let me say it again:
Jesus can and will heal every broken heart!
There’s not a sorrow or a grief or a situation so terrible that the Lord cannot fix and overcome!
Do you have a broken heart?
Tell the Lord how much you are hurting. Tell Him you need His healing touch. I promise He will hear your cries for help.
And He will reach down, and take your hand, and walk you through your pain.
It may happen quickly; it may take a long time. But it will happen in His time.
He will heal your broken heart. He will not fail!