"He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds."
"Close to the brokenhearted, close to the brokenhearted," I would whisper that phrase over and over to myself when I was younger and facing some sort of crisis. I found comfort in the image of a tender Jesus cradling His wounded children, slowly pouring comfort and healing into their brokenness.
Not so long ago in life, I whispered those words to myself again: "close to the brokenhearted, close to the brokenhearted."
But the words immersed themselves more deeply within me this time. For most of my life, I had known He is close to the brokenhearted. For much of my life, I had known that we are not alone in our suffering, because Jesus lived life on this earth too. Jesus experienced sorrow, anger, rejection, betrayal...Jesus experienced the people He served not valuing the person He was.
Since God created mankind in His own image (Genesis 1:27), and the Scriptures are full of statements that God rejoiced, God felt sorrow, God was angered, God had compassion...I feel comforted to know that God designed each of us with the capacity to experience such strong emotions because that is a trait of Him, as well. And since God the Creator is so much more vast than we are, more complex, and completely infinite compared to our human limitations---
When I feel hurt, He feels it more deeply than I do.
When I feel confused, angry, or disappointed,
His comprehension for my pain is clearer than my own.
When I weep, He is weeping harder.
That thought finally clicked with me and gave me a rope to hold on to
when I have experienced moments of overwhelming grief or despair.
God created us in His likeness, capable of strong emotions.
Jesus walked on this earth filled with pain and suffering.
He cried, He grieved, He poured out His heart to His Father---
just as I am sure He also smiled and laughed and celebrated at weddings.
And this is who I belong to.
When I hurt, He is not only close to the brokenhearted--
He hurts even more than I do.
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