Lord of the Brokenhearted

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”
—Psalm 34:19

What a powerful phrase—“crushed in spirit.” It implies the utter depths of despair.

There is so much suffering in the world, and we are all subject to it. Earlier this week an earthquake devastated the Tibetan region of China. Hundreds are dead, and there would have been far more if not for the rural, mountainous terrain. It was but the latest in a number of highly-publicized earthquakes in recent months. Hundreds of thousands perished in Haiti in January; thousands in Chile in February. The news images are heart-wrenching. “Crushed” is the operative word – buildings are crushed, bodies are crushed, and certainly spirits are crushed too.

As vivid as these examples, we do not have to experience a literal earthquake to know broken-heartedness, to be crushed in spirit. The metaphoric earthquakes of our lives can be nearly as devastating. Illnesses threaten our lives, tragedies take our loved ones, careers end, life savings are lost, and relationships rupture and leave as much psychic damage as any natural force.

This reality causes so many to lose faith, to doubt the existence of a benevolent power in the universe. But we were never, ever promised a life free of suffering. Impermanence and loss are the natural products of being mortal, created beings. If it were otherwise, we would be gods, not humans.

God has never promised to protect us from broken hearts, because to be human is to know heartbreak. He does not preserve us from a crushed spirit. But he is adamant that in our suffering, he is present. His cross is the greatest symbol of the way God suffers with us in the human condition. He, too, knew broken-heartedness. He, too, was crushed in spirit. And he prevailed. Just, as he promises, we too shall ultimately prevail, through his grace.

Lord of the Brokenhearted, hear the anguished cry of our crushed spirits. Reveal yourself to us in our suffering. Reveal yourself to us in your own crushed spirit. Draw us ever closer to your own broken heart, so that, in intimacy with you, the whole cosmos may be healed. Amen.