Broken Hearts - Dinner #11

     Psalm 30:5 declares that, “ . . . weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”  What a special promise to those who are hurting with a broken heart!  You may not feel as though yours is broken at this present moment, but every woman in the world, at some time in her life, experiences that pain.  A boyfriend leaves, a son or daughter runs from God, a loved one passes away . . . and our heart feels as though someone has dashed it to the floor to shatter in a million pieces. 

     This past week, I came across a poem I’d written during a time when my own heart was in tears, and was instantly reminded of God’s grace and provision.  After two years of dating a Christian young man, we were days away from becoming engaged, when he chose to very abruptly break up with me.  All communication from him suddenly gone, I could only cling to the Lord and to His Word, and trust Him to pick up the pieces of my shattered heart.  During this time, I underlined Psalm 27:14 in my Bible, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”   Off to the side of the page, I wrote “Patiently wait, for only God can strengthen a broken heart.”  I knew that my Heavenly Father alone could bring me sunshine again, and that is exactly what He did!  Five months later, the wonderful man I would marry waltzed into my life. SMILE! Weeping endured for a night, but joy surely, SURELY came in the morning!

     Do you know what else our Heavenly Father does for those whose hearts are hurting?  Psalm 147:3 says He not only restores to them their joy, “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”  He is there for you, to HELP you and to HEAL you!  Psalm 34:17-18 “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart . . .”  What wonderful peace to know that whenever your burdened heart cries out to Him, God is there!  “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17) 

     Did Christ Himself know what it was like to have a broken heart?  Equal with man and yet equal with God, our Lord wept on this earth when His friend Lazarus died (John 11:35), He wept over the future of the city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), He cried in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:44) . . . Jesus knew what it was to have a hurting heart, and He understands yours! 

     A broken heart feels painful, tearful, LONELY . . . At one point in his life, David wrote “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.” (Psalm 6:6)  But the dark pain of a broken heart does not have to last forever! Psalm 107:14-15 declares, “He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” The gloom will one day be past, if you will only trust in the Lord, and keep walking along life’s journey.  Psalm 116:8-9 says, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.”  The Loving One Who saved your soul, can surely take away your tears!