Copyright © 2023 Michael A. Brown
‘O afflicted city,
lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise,
your foundations with sapphires.’ (Isa. 54:11)
‘I have seen his
ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him...’ (Isa.
57:18)
Brokenness in society
The
lives of simply too many people today amply reflect the description in the
verse above from Isaiah 54:11 – afflicted, lashed by storms and not
comforted. The practical and
social consequences of a philosophy, in which the existence of God is either
denied altogether or conveniently laid aside as being irrelevant, ignored and
then forgotten about, are stark. The
Bible says that ‘My people are destroyed
from lack of knowledge’ (Hosea 4:6), and that it is the fool who says in
his heart, ‘There is no God.’ (Ps.
14:1). Some of the destructive practical
consequences of this erroneous belief are outlined to us in passages such as Psalms
14:1-3, 53:1-3 and Romans 1:18-32.
The
brokenness and fragmentation brought about by secular atheism, in which the
commandments, wisdom and promises of God are laid aside, have been commented
upon by many writers today[1]
and are clear to those who have eyes to see: ‘Where there is no revelation, men cast off restraint’ (Prov.
29:18), and every person does ‘that which
[is] right in his own eyes.’ (Judges 21:25 AV).
Our
embrace of self-centred, godless individualism has had many consequences:
materialism and greed for short-term financial gain, ingraining a depth of
selfishness in people which has minimized the importance of relationships in
general and the need for community, often regarding other people as valueless;
a hedonistic and often shameless pursuit of selfish pleasure which ultimately
fails to satisfy the human heart; a breakdown in the ability to sustain
long-term relationships, with seemingly ever-higher degrees of stress, betrayal
within marriage, high divorce rates (and multiple divorces), broken and
dysfunctional families, the wound of fatherlessness for far too many children,
and intergenerational divorce patterns; increased isolation, loneliness,
suspicion, fear and the unwillingness to show genuine care, and so on.
This
brokenness and fragmentation in society is often accompanied by deep, inner
loneliness, emptiness, heart wounds, bitterness and cynicism. Often symptomatic of these are such things as
feelings of meaninglessness in life; binge drinking and alcoholism; comfort
eating, gluttony and obesity; pornography, sexual promiscuity with its
resultant STDs and unwanted pregnancies; self-harm, waywardness and drug
addiction; anger and violence in both the home and in society, and despair
leading to suicide, and so on. Too many
people are deeply hurt by life. Thrown
around, wearied and without hope, wandering around in spiritual darkness,
confused and straying, atheism offers them little or no healing for their
wounds; their inward heart cry goes unheard. Brokenness is a common experience.
This heart cry of
meaninglessness, inward emptiness, hopelessness and despair, was echoed
repeatedly by the writer of Ecclesiastes: ‘Utterly
meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’
(Eccl. 1:2 etc.). And what was his
conclusion? ‘Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…’ (Eccl.
12:1). True and lasting meaningfulness
in life is found only through being restored into a right relationship with
God, which will then lead us into rightly relating to ourselves and to people
around us.
Restoration to wholeness is God’s
purpose
One
of the central motifs given to us in Scripture of the salvation of God is that
of restoration. In a word, where there has been brokenness,
he can restore and rebuild. Just as he
did for ancient Israel after a period of brokenness in their national life, he
can ‘rebuild the ancient ruins and
restore the places long devastated’ in our life (Isa. 61:4). He can take afflicted lives which have been
lashed by storms and not comforted, and rebuild them with stones of turquoise
and their foundations with sapphires (Isa. 54:11). His thoughts and plans for us are to prosper
us and not to harm us, to give us hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). He satisfies the longing soul (Ps. 107:9
AV). On the very points where Satan (the
thief) has stolen from, killed and destroyed us, Jesus can give us abundant
life to the full (John 10:10), so restoring the intention of God for our life.
There
is a very real sense in which rebuilding and restoring broken lives is God’s
speciality. He is a God of hope (Rom.
15:13) and he yearns to bring this living hope into our lives. The
gospel is good news. If our life
has been characterized by brokenness in whatever way, then, in Jesus, the healing and restoration of that
brokenness is our living hope.
To
describe this hope, the Old Testament often uses the words yasha (‘to save’ or ‘to deliver,’ and literally meaning to bring
someone out of a restricted place into an open and free place, cf. Ps. 18:19,
118:5) and shalom (describing the
general state of well-being and wholeness into which God brings people). Similarly, the New Testament uses the words sozo (‘to save’) and soteria (‘salvation’) to refer to the
deliverance we experience in Christ (being saved from sin, or delivered out of
one state of being and life, into another, and also used to sum up all the
blessings bestowed by God on his people in Christ). So the
salvation to which the Bible refers speaks of a restored life, restored
relationships and wholeness, in the context of belonging to the kingdom of God
(Col. 1:13-14).
Jesus rebuilds broken lives
Jesus came into a broken, frustrated
world and offered people the good news of the kingdom of God. By his acts of grace for people, he
demonstrated the fact that God cares for the whole of our life in every aspect. To
come into the kingdom of God through Jesus, means that we can progressively
come to know and experience his caring authority over the whole of our
life. So he brought – and still brings!
– good news to the poor; he binds up the broken-hearted; he gives freedom to
the captive; he comforts those who mourn and provides for those who grieve; he
bestows on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead
of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair, making them
into oaks of righteousness and a people through whom he can then display his
splendour to others around (Isa. 61:1-3, Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus’
ministry was characterised by bringing grace and forgiveness to those who would
repent. He acted to bring God’s
salvation into different situations and needs in people’s lives (such as
healing the sick, freeing those who were oppressed and enslaved by evil
spirits, and cleansing lepers). He
brought healing to broken relationships.
He ministered to those who were marginalized, to the poor, to those who
were suffering and to the weak. He
reached out to widows, to women, to children and orphans; to the
broken-hearted, to those who mourned and grieved, to the despairing; to
prostitutes, tax collectors and so-called ‘sinners.’ He was a compassionate shepherd to the
harassed and helpless sheep of his people: he
took the lives of poor, broken, neglected and despised people, restored them
and put them on their feet again.
He took away the deep frustration and brokenness of their lives and
brought them into the glorious blessing and freedom of the children of God
(Rom. 8:20-21).
Examples of restored lives
The
gospel narratives contain many examples of people with broken lives. These are given to us by the writers as
specific examples of the power of Jesus to transform people’s lives for good as
they experience his salvation. We can see
that such brokenness manifested itself in different ways in the lives of the
people we read about, and we can see how Jesus restored them.
As
a consequence of his wilfulness and profligate living, the prodigal was
eventually left penniless, friendless, homeless and without dignity, and, in
his desperation and hunger, was forced to do any kind of work, even work he
hated doing, just in order to survive. Humbled, ashamed and broken; barefoot,
hungry and in rags! But how did
his father respond when he repented and returned home? He had deep compassion on him and received
him back into his home (speaking of being received into the kingdom of God); he
put the best robe on him (speaking of the righteousness of Christ, a new
standing and identity as a child of God); he put a ring on his finger (speaking
of living a new life empowered from within by the Holy Spirit); he put sandals
on his feet (speaking of a new commission to preach the message of God’s
kingdom to others); he killed the fattened calf (speaking of Christ’s sacrifice
for us), and the family rejoiced together in a great feast (Luke
15:20-24). Restored!
There
were people whose lives had been devastated by broken health for years. The woman with the issue of blood is a
well-known example (Luke 8:43-48). She
was incurable, having suffered and being progressively weakened more and more
by this debilitating condition for twelve long years, and she had also become
impoverished by spending all her money on medical bills, only to find that the
doctors could not cure her condition anyway.
Sick, desperate and becoming
increasingly poor: broken and seemingly without hope! But someone told her about Jesus (Mark 5:27)
and hope rose up in her heart. She set
off and went to Jesus, pushing her way through the crowd to reach him. When she took hold of the hem of his garment
by faith, the power of God shot through her body and she was healed instantly
and completely. Restored!
Then
again there was the woman who had lived with five different husbands and was
now with a sixth man. She was probably
barren and not able to have children, looking for love and committed
faithfulness, but not finding it. So she
ended up effectively being passed around from one man to another, each
separating from her after a short time together because she could not produce a
son for them. No commitment to her, no compassion, no care, just selfishness,
using her and then casting her aside to be used by yet other men, leaving her a
broken woman on the scrap heap of life.
What did Jesus do? He promised
her a fountain of living water which would rise up from within her to heal and
satisfy her broken heart completely. Through this encounter with Jesus she
was transformed and many of the people in her town also became
believers through her testimony! (John 4:7-18,28-29,39-42).
The journey into wholeness
The
kinds of things that are described above were only the beginning of these
people’s journey into wholeness, and there are many other examples in Scripture
of God’s restoring power in people’s lives.
As we ourselves learn to walk with Jesus in our lives, seeking first
God’s kingdom, knowing his presence daily and empowered by the Holy Spirit
within us, and as we learn to live according to his commandments, wisdom and
promises, we too will experience his goodness, his restoring care and his
salvation in every aspect of our lives. This is his will and desire for every
one of us.
If you are aware of
any particular areas of brokenness in your life (perhaps one of the areas
mentioned above, or another which is not mentioned), know that it is God’s
desire to bind up your wounds, and to heal and restore comfort to you and make
you whole again. Open yourself up to him
in prayer even as you read this today, and ask him to begin to heal and restore
your area of brokenness. And as you
continue to pray your prayer for restoration, he will surely keep his promise
to you and bring you into wholeness again!
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