Rest

Rest for the Broken Hearted:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,  because the Lord has anointed me
  to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners

Isaiah 61:1

            Dear sister or brother can you remember your first day of school, when you rode a bike for the first time without “training wheels,” and when you lost your first tooth? Most of you may or may not be able to remember these moments in your life but I can almost guarantee that if I asked you to tell me about the first time your heart got broken, you probably would be able to tell me every little detail about that moment. Why is it that the injury to our heart cuts so deep and hurts us so badly? It’s like the pain of the heart is in a “class” of hurt all by itself. As I ponder this, I think back to heartbreaks that I have had in the past. I can almost feel the pain and the aches of some of them again. A broken heart is inescapable part of the time and it is also a key in maturity. However, many sisters and brothers, experience mature emotions long before they should and are left crushed and in pieces.

Beloved, I believe that only God can completely take a shatter heart and put it back together. If you jump back to Psalm we find David in great sorrow and hurt. 

“If an enemy were insulting me,  I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me,
    I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,
 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about
 among the worshipers. “ – Psalm 55:12-14

Beloved, only a person who has intimate contact to your heart can hurt you as much as David was describing. If you have ever been hurt by a sister, brother, mom, dad, friend, husband or wife you probably have experienced, firsthand the kind of pain and distress David is talking about.  If you have been hurt like this I beg you dear one, to not recoil emotionally from this. Allow the work of the Holy Spirit, to come and to ensure that healing has come to you. It breaks my heart to think of the pain of betrayal that I know many of you have gone through, but please remember that the Lord understands and does feel your pain. He is sympathetic and our heartbreaks aren’t anyone else’s concerns but the Lord’s.  Yes, friends and family members can reach out to us and offer love and support but there is only so much they can take. After a month of you still being shattered and broken, people beginning to wonder if you will ever get over it. The Lord knows that we cannot always be strong  all the time. Remember from Isaiah 61 He came to “bind up the brokenhearted.” He knows that we are weak and in pain over this heartbreak. Unlike friends here on earth, the Lord is never intimidated by the intensity of our need and the expression of our weakness. Beloved, do you know how thankful I am that I do not have to “keep it all together” and set a good example for others to follow, when I am completely alone with the Father.  He understands that and wants us to come to Him for “rest” when we are in pain ( Psalm 62:5).

Dear one He will heal your heart if you allow Him to, but we have to trust and believe in His sovereignty. That means, if a betrayal by a loved one knocks us completely down and shatters our heart, we still have to trust and know that if the Lord allowed something this appalling to happen, that He plans to use it in a powerful way. He would never allow anything to cross your path that He could not use for eternity. He saw everything and saw this coming before you were even born. His plan for you has not changed no matter what happen or what you did. You are God’s child and you are defined by Him! Find rest and never be shaken in Him.

“Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.. – Psalm 62:2