He heals the broken hearted
By Tom Quiner
“I can’t imagine what God sees in me.”
Has that thought ever crossed your mind? You’re in good company. Think about the opening verse of one of the most beloved hymn’s ever written:
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.”
The blinding realization of Grace is that God loves us beyond human imagination, despite our relentless capacity to sin, and that His love for us is unearned and undeserved.
That’s why it’s called Grace.
A friend of mine, Vern, died last year at the ripe old age of 95. He detested the use of the word ‘wretch’ in Amazing Grace, and refused to let it be played at his funeral. (No, he didn’t put that demand in his will, but everyone who knew Vern knew his feelings.)
“God doesn’t make wretches,” he told me and a thousand other people.
He’s right, of course. God doesn’t make scoundrels, villains, rogues, rascals, reprobates, miscreants, criminals, or good-for-nothings, which are other words for ‘wretch.’
We do.
God gives us something that is essential to loving Him: free will. You can’t love without it. But the downside of free will is our capability to act in wretched ways.
Our flawed nature leads to broken hearts and broken lives. And yet despite all of this, God sees the beauty in each of us, even if we don’t.
The late actor, Robin Williams, suffered from acute, clinical depression. I was struck by something he said once:
“I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy, because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.”
God love Mr. Williams and others like him who suffer from such a debilitating illness. His quote reveals how God works through us to help each other.
The great Psalmist says only one Person can heal our broken hearts (Psalm 147):
R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He tells the number of the stars;
he calls each by name.
R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.
So what is it that God sees in us? Himself. After all, He made us in His image.
Are you fighting a broken heart? Turn to Him. Ask Him to help.
That Robin Williams quote is so true. I have a dear friend who has suffered so much in her life, and yet she always strives to make others feel welcomed and happy. She will be the first to make a stranger a friend; she hates leaving people alone. But she is so broken, I know she will snap one day. She is so attentive to others but never attentive to herself, and so many people are quick to take her love and rarely give it back.
God is the only one Who can give so much of Himself away and still have infinite reserves of love and compassion. So only when a human constantly fills their soul with the Holy Spirit can they mimic that perfection.
I pray that my friend will let God fill those holes of depression in her life.
I join you in that prayer.