"The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all." Psalm 34:17-20
Have you ever lost a loved one? In the past I have shared with you about losing our daughter, but I feel led to do so again.
"Dad, are you sitting down?" Those words came across the phone lines from our oldest daughter, Brenda, some twenty years ago. I told her that I was. She said, "I am in the hospital with heart failure."
The words struck with the force of a blow to my stomach. I told her that her mother and I would be there as soon as possible. It was over 500 miles from Shelton, Washington to Boise, Idaho, and we made it in record time.
When we arrived, the prognosis was even worse than we had anticipated. Brenda was diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension and the only way she could survive was to have both a heart and lung transplant. In the meantime she, like so many others, had to live with a broken heart.
I knew that as much as I wanted to fix my dear daughter's condition, neither myself, her mom, nor the medical doctors could fix Brenda's heart. She would live the remaining days of her life with a broken heart.
There are many people reading this who have a heart condition or have loved ones who are living with a heart defect. We know the tender care which must be exercised in living with a broken heart. It may require a change in the way we eat, the way we exercise and the medicines we take.
There is another aspect of having a broken heart -- it is the attitude of heart before our God. It may be described as the opposite of pride and arrogance. It was a chief characteristic of our Lord when He walked the dusty roads of Israel. He, who was the One who had created all things, was now in submission to His Father. He lived with a broken heart.
How are we to emulate the attitude which Christ patterned? The most obvious answer is that we are to live with a broken heart. That does not mean that we are to develop a medical heart condition, but rather a spiritual one. It is not only okay to have a spiritually broken heart, it is essential in order to live in victory.
Our hearts need to be crushed and broken by the things which we see in our lives which are contrary to the will of God. In these instances we need to cry out to God and confess our sin in order for Him to forgive and cleanse. This very attitude should also be evidenced as we observe the sins of our nation and of the world.
If there was a single characteristic which described the prophets of the Old Testament, it was their godly sorrow for sin. They very clearly lived with a broken heart. Is it any wonder that the Lord was able to do such mighty works through them?
I think it is time for us to stop and evaluate our lives in view of eternity. More than being brokenhearted because of the loss of a loved one, we need to have our hearts crushed before the Lord. As we examine our lives may we pray with all sincerity: "Lord let me live before You with a broken heart!"
Pastor Cecil A. Thompson
(Thanks to Monic)
