Everyone's Question

 

“The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.”

 Proverbs 14:10

 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...”

Proverbs 23:7

My status as a “Mad Men” fan is no secret. I’ve seen my husband’s eyes roll many times as I repeatedly watch the series’ episodes. What can I say? The writing is excellent and each flawed character stumbles upon universal life moments which are far from sugarcoated.

Take, for instance, an episode entitled “The Crash.” We’re set in 1968, when major events like the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy have taken place. Social and political upheaval are in full force. We start to see “counterculture,” via flower children.

Enter the following scene between our protagonist, Don Draper; he’s a Madison Avenue advertising executive with many a skeleton in his past’s closet. Disillusioned, disturbed and heartsick, Draper encounters a flower child daughter of the recently deceased partner at the Madison Avenue agency. Upon discovering a stethoscope left behind from the agency’s “Dr. Feelgood,” this flower child wants to hear Draper’s heartbeat. Placing the instrument on his chest, she then remarks, “I think it’s broken.” Don questions how she can hear his broken heart. And she corrects him by stating the medical instrument is what’s broken.

Nevertheless, Draper clues us into the very real reality of his broken heart.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Proverbs 4:23

 

Oh, the pain connected to the heart! No one is immune from its breaks and cracks. Sooner or later, life will break our hearts with something.

And, as painful at it is to experience, these broken hearts are not the hopeless despair they feel like they are. Often, they are the very entry points for God to infiltrate and move in.

  “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Psalms 34:18

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Psalms 51:17

And His movement creates healing, restoration, comfort and peace.

  “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

John 14:1

That’s not to say, however, that it will be easy and pain-free.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

John 14:27

If we look for peace and comfort in ways that are certain and familiar to our human feelings and expectations, guess what? We will be disappointed.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

 It’s not a cop out; it’s truth-filled reality. It doesn’t feel reassuring to our senses and feelings. Nevertheless, our broken heart state is not hopeless doom and destruction. It is the very stuff for God to do His healing and blessing by.

 Should it be that way? Ideally, no.

Ideally, before the fall of Adam and Eve, there would not have been any pain or broken hearts, Alas, life didn’t work out that way.

And, therefore, here’s where Romans 8:28 is quite handy as a reality check:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

So, what’s broken in our lives? God can mend it; He IS up to the task:

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”

Jeremiah 32:27

Whatever we believe is broken, let’s allow God a crack at those cracks. We’d be amazed at the restoration which awaits us!

Copyright © 2015 by Sheryle Cruse