SATURDAY 25th
Psalm 34
V18 ‘The LORD is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in Spirit.’
We are many weeks into a period of uncertainty, a period the like of none of us have never been through before on such a large scale. To date (25th) There are 2.7m confirmed cases of Covid-19 world-wide, with 195,920 deaths. In the UK 143,464 cases and there have been 19,506 deaths. Thankfully many have and are recovered or are recovering.
Death has come suddenly, almost with either very little or no warning. Yes, we all know that we will die one day, but out of these present figures so many will have died unexpectedly, that is one of the reasons why the authorities have put in place many procedures to try to halt the spread and to eventually, hopefully wipe it out.
The Bible tells us that death has come as a result of the entrance of sin into the world. Death is no respecter of persons, it comes to all, and not always when we are old in age, sadly it calls from every age group. Any death is a sad time, any funeral service is a place where we would rather not attend. One of the saddest I’ve attended was when a previous school friend of our daughter died of Meningitis. She was just 11 years old, we had moved away, but for our daughter we travelled the 275 miles back to Great Cornard, Suffolk to enable her to join with all the other class-mates at the funeral, it was such a heart-breaking time. After the funeral I had a conversation with the vicar who I knew from our time living there, and he confided with me with some news that only he and his wife knew at the time, of which they were not disclosing yet owing to the events of the day. That same morning before he had had to officiate at the funeral, their own daughter just a few years old had been diagnosed with cancer, sadly just a year or two later, their daughter had also died. At the other end of the extreme I went to a funeral around the same time of an aunt of mine, she was 101.
We don’t like to talk about death, but we need to constantly remind ourselves as believers that we have as we considered on Tuesday, a Shepherd who is with us. But there is something else that we are reminded about in our Scripture today, the Shepherd also comes near to the broken hearted. Picture this: as the Shepherd is going through the valley of the shadow of death with a dying soul, transporting them into his eternal presence and home, he is at the very same time drawing close to the bereaved to minister to their broken-heartedness. What a wonderful Shepherd we have.
We can know a broken heart in many ways, it can come through a relationship breakdown, it can be as a result of devastating news but more commonly as already mentioned, we know broken-heartedness at the loss of a loved one when death has come and taken them. And many are experiencing this at this moment, the whole world over. There are many broken-hearted people in this world today. Death is awful in that it brings separation, as a loved one is taken, but perhaps it is made even the more difficult today in that we are constantly being reminded that such is the risk of contamination, that loved ones are sadly being left to die alone. Couples who may have been together for many years, unable to embrace, hold hands and to be a comfort to each other because of the potential and dangerous risk of getting the virus.
We can take many steps to help in this period, we can pray, we can ensure we follow the guidelines, we can ring, encourage etc. but we can also be the means through which the healing of the broken heart can take place as we allow God to use us to minister his grace to any that we know who may be hurting. Not just as a result of the virus, but any that are going through a period of loss. Elaine and I lost three of our parents in a month, three funerals in the space of 27 days, and we thank God that while we were grieving there were many in our Church family who were praying for us, getting in touch with us and just being there for us, but above all we thank God that our Shepherd was with us helping to heal our broken-heartedness.
In the New Testament, we read of the moment when Jesus arrived at the grave of Lazarus, even though he knew what he was about to do, he connected with the broken-heartedness of the two sisters and he wept. We must and should never be afraid of tears, again the Scripture says that when one rejoices, we rejoice with them, when one suffers, we suffer with them. We need to learn the art of connecting and caring! The need to enter what another person is going through, to be able to give them succour and support.
In Isaiah 61:1-2 we read ‘The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour.’
In Luke 4, Jesus stood up in the temple and took the Scroll of the prophet Isaiah and when he found these verses, he read them out concluding at the end, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Yes, Jesus came to be the Saviour, he came to seek and to save the lost, he came to reconcile and to redeem, he came to give abundant and eternal life. But, among so many other things as well he came to bind up, or to heal the broken hearted.
The Psalm for today, is a reasonably well-known Psalm, meditate upon it, but if at this moment are down-hearted or broken-hearted allow the Saviour to lift you up, allow him to replace your sorrow with joy.
Psalm 147:3 ‘He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.’
He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair
When sorrow seems to surround you
When suffering hangs heavy o’er your head
Know that tomorrow brings
Wholeness and healing
God knows your need
Just believe what He said
He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair
When what you’ve done keeps you from moving on
When fear wants to make itself at home in your heart
Know that forgiveness brings
Wholeness and healing
God knows your need
Just believe what He said
I once was lost but God has found me
Though I was bound I’ve been set free
I’ve been made righteous in His sight
A display of His splendor all can see
CCLI788682