God Heals the Brokenhearted: From Brokenness to New Purpose

Feeling Like a Broken Vessel

Many of us have had the feeling that we were "damaged goods." We may have felt that we were so broken, so useless, so incapable of doing the right thing that we wanted to give up on life. God speaks especially to us. His heart is for those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Those who are contrite have realized the weight of their own sin. They no longer make excuses for it. Their grief comes from the realization that they have failed God.

How easy it is for us to feel like David in Psalm 31:12,

"I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel."

But in Jesus we do not remain forgotten and broken. God heals the brokenhearted.

Jesus Gives Beauty for Ashes

This is who Jesus came for. Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:3 and announced that He was the fulfillment of this prophecy (Luke 4:18-21).

"To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

In Isaiah's day, ashes were a sign of deep mourning, repentance, and grief. People would sit in ashes or place them on their heads as an outward expression of inward sorrow. God promises something remarkable. He does not simply wipe away the ashes. He replaces them with beauty. Where there was mourning, He brings joy. Where there was despair, He gives praise. Through Christ, God transforms the lives of those who come to Him with broken and contrite hearts.

In Him we no longer have to feel broken hearted. We no longer have to experience feeling like "damaged goods." Why does He transform us? Because we have become righteous for one reason—so through our restored lives God can be glorified. God's favor comes upon us and He draws near to us.

God Draws Near to the Contrite Spirit

Our deep respect for God and the contrition and remorse we feel for our failures lead us to tremble before His word. Have you felt this? Has your soul acknowledged your helplessness to lead a righteous life without God's guidance?

"...“But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word." Isaiah 66:2

Shouldn't our prayer be that God will look on us? And when He does what is our response? Can it be anything other than what the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 66:1?

"Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious."

Yet true contrition does not stop at glorifying God; it presses us further to face the real cost of our sin. Saying, "I am sorry for my sins," is easy to do but realizing, maybe for the first time, what that sin is responsible for, can be overwhelming. My sin nailed Jesus to the cross just as surely as the worst of all humanity. He died for Me because of what I did. He bore my sins on Himself out of love, when I did not love Him.

To the humble and contrite, God promises to dwell with them and become their source of healing (Isaiah 57:15). Because how would it be possible to be truly contrite without humility? He revives our spirits when we confess our sins with true contrition.

God Heals and Restores the Brokenhearted

But praise be to God He does not leave us with our brokenness. No. He calls us out of it like He called Lazarus forth from the tomb. He brings the soul, dead to sin, to life everlasting. Our mourning is exchanged for beauty, our dull minds enlightened by the light of Christ, and our prideful spirits brought low as we rejoice in the righteousness of Christ. All of this because God is near to those who have broken hearts and whose spirits are crushed (Psalm 34:18.) God truly heals the wounds of the brokenhearted.

The Potter Restores the Broken Vessel

In the story of the potter in Jeremiah 18:1-23 we find a story that explains how God uses a marred and broken vessel and repurposes it to become a useful container. In our case we become containers for His Holy Spirit. With the power of the Holy Spirit we can fulfill the purpose God has for us. We were meant for more in this world, but if God does not heal and restore us we will never know what good uses we could have been put to. This restoration is not just a one time experience; it becomes the ongoing pattern of the Christian life.

Notice the potter did not discard the vessel because it had become marred. The potter reshaped it into another vessel "as it seemed good to the potter to make." That is the hope of every believer. God does not throw away broken lives. He reshapes them into something useful for His kingdom. What sin, failure, and suffering have damaged, God is able to restore.

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3

That personal feeling of self loathing, that sorrow from loss, that anger and bitterness from hurts that we have experienced, all these and more are healed and removed. This is God at His most personal. He tends to you as He would any whom He loves. He actively heals and treats the deep spiritual sorrows and emotional griefs you have experienced.

First He stabilizes our wounds and then He restores us beyond anything we can comprehend. God’s healing is never merely the mending of wounds; it is the remaking of the vessel itself for a new purpose. What does this restored life look like? It is a life dependent on our Maker.

Learning to Rely on God

Paul tells the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 that he had felt so burdened he thought he would die but this feeling came on him so he would learn to rely on God and not himself. Paul explains that he was delivered from death and would be again because his hope was set on God.

Are we not like Paul? We go through seasons of trials so severe at times that we feel as though our burdens will destroy us. And most likely they would if we do not learn to lean on God, the giver of hope. Jesus gives us many reasons to find hope in the Beatitudes.

Christ promised us in Matthew 5:3-7 that if we are "poor in spirit" we will have the kingdom of heaven. He tells us that if we mourn we will find comfort. If we are meek we will inherit the earth. If we hunger for righteousness we will be satisfied. When we are merciful to others we are promised to receive mercy. Our God is always faithful to His promises.

In Isaiah 41:10 God reminds us not to fear because He is with us. He promises to strengthen, help, and uphold us when we cannot do it ourselves. The key is to realize that if we only rely on ourselves it will be difficult not to fear. The same God who heals our brokenness also meets us in the fears that so often accompany it.

Hope for the Brokenhearted

The world we live in today is full of fear. How often when we are afraid for ourselves or our loved ones do we give into that fear? Have you reminded yourself of God's promises? We have choices. We can remain broken and fearful or we can become contrite and reliant on God who is bigger than any problem we ever have.

Follow Jesus and your path will not be lonely or fearful. Follow Jesus and your past bad decisions and willful sin will not haunt you. Follow Jesus and He will heal the parts of you that you may not have even realized were broken. Jesus restores the broken. Let Him use you for His kingdom and be blessed in the process.

Enjoy The Potter's Hand sung by Darlene Zschech