Broken Hearts

Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none. (Psalm 69:20 NKJV)

What Does it Mean to be Broken-hearted?
Most dictionaries associate broken hearts with grief and sorrow. It can be caused by circumstances (death or rejection) or by sin. Hearts are not literally broken but often there is an emotional toll that feels like heaviness in the chest.
Losing an infant child or a wife or husband can cause hearts to be broken.

Losing a job when the family depends on the income and there are no prospects for other jobs can cause brokenness.

Making a moral mistake that cannot be undone can cause great sorrow. I wonder what Eve thought when she realized she not only produced Cain in sorrow but she had produced a murderer?

Brokenness from having a friend turn on us like Judas who turned on the Lord and betrayed Him:

The Psalms indicate that the Lord considered Judas who betrayed him a friend and the Lord experienced and felt the rejection of Judas:

Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9 NKJV)

For it is not an enemy who reproaches me;
Then I could bear it.
Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me;
Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal,
My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together,
And walked to the house of God in the throng. (Psalm 55:12-14 NKJV)

Brokenness from Being Totally Alone in the Hour of Trial:
The Lord owned the cattle on a thousand hills and yet he was alone when he bore our sins on the cross. We read:

“In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, ‘Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” (Matthew 26:55-56 NKJV)

And again we read the prophecy that was fulfilled when all the disciples forsook Him and fled, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones (Zechariah 13:7 NKJV).”

Sinners Need to be Broken:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:17 NKJV). This was written after David’s Bathsheba and Uriah experience.

Circumstances Beyond our Control can Break us:
Jeremiah said, “My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD, And because of His holy words. (Jeremiah 23:9 NKJV)

Jeremiah knew what was going to happen and he told the Israelites but they would not listen. Lamentations expresses this in Lamentations 1:12 which says, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see If there is any sorrow like my sorrow, Which has been brought on me, Which the LORD has inflicted In the day of His fierce anger.”

But The Lord Cares about Those Whose Hearts are Broken:
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalms 147:3, NKJV).”

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Isaiah 61:1, NKJV).”

He wept at Lazarus’ tomb, He wept in the Garden, He wept over Jerusalem. He is touched by the feelings of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:14-16).

When we come broken-hearted to the throne of grace, He understands and He forgives. He HEALS broken hearts.

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the week of August 13, 2023