Healing the Brokenhearted

Healing the Brokenhearted

It’s Thanksgiving week and my heart hurts. I wonder how many folks out there feel the same way I do. When I feel like this I hope and pray that God doesn’t see it as being ungrateful for His overwhelming blessings. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I logically know that I am blessed so far beyond anything I deserve. Mentally and emotionally, however, It is a different story.

I miss the folks that have gone on to glory. For the first time, I won’t see Baby J and Lane for the holidays. We are in the midst of making a major move and will be leaving a church family that means the world to us. Members of my family are struggling to overcome difficulties that have made their way hard to bear and I feel helpless as I watch them struggle.

I don’t list those things to gain sympathy from anyone. I list them because I want you to know that myself and many others can empathize on some level with what you may be going through and feeling. My prayer is that through my writing this blog and through your reading it, we will find some solace and comfort.

Jesus spent the first three decades of His life in Nazareth. I wonder what everyone in town thought when He left home and began His earthly ministry? I bet there was a lot of hubbub when they began to hear about His preaching and miracles. You would think He would be welcomed home with hearts wide open, but that won’t prove to be so. Before this homecoming is over, the folks Jesus grew up with will be seeking to throw Him to His death.

Everything was fine until Jesus stood up on the Sabbath and read from the prophet Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”(Luke 4:18,19 NKJV).

Jesus has gotten everybody’s attention. All eyes are on Him. Jesus begins to speak,”Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”(Luke 4:21 NKJV). They of all people should have been able to see it but they are spiritually blind. Their outrage rises as Jesus talks about the widow of Zarephath in the days of Elijah. Their wrath reaches a boiling point when He mentions Naaman the Syrian in the days of Elisha. Who does He think He is? “Is this not Joseph’s son?”(Luke 4:22 NKJV).

They tried to murder the Messiah! They wanted to snuff out the Savior! Didn’t they hear what He said? Didn’t they want the Christ to come more than anything? They knew Him better than anyone, why couldn’t they see it? They heard His words but didn’t hear them. They wanted the Christ but He didn’t fit their idea of what He was supposed to be. They didn’t see it because they didn’t want to see it.

Friends, I hope and pray I never fall prey to what held them back that day. It’s Thanksgiving week and my heart hurts. Thank God Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted! Praise God that He was sent to give sight to the blind, especially the spiritually blind! I am thankful for the liberty I enjoy as a citizen of the United States of America. But, that doesn’t even come close to the liberty that I have been given in Christ Jesus!

Yes, my heart hurts. But at the same time, my heart overflows with thanksgiving for the blessings of Almighty God. Jesus will later tell His disciples,”Let not your heart be troubled.”(John 14:1 NKJV). It may look bleak from where you stand right now. Just remember that Jesus is right there with you. He is there through the good and the bad, the happy and the sad. Hold on to Jesus and His words and have a Happy Thanksgiving everybody!