There are a lot of things that happen in life that don’t make sense. Friends have marriages collapse and are left to sort through the broken pieces. Loved ones go through the heartache of losing expected life and are left with questions and a hole where there was supposed to be anticipation. A family member gets sick and battles diseases like the “c” word with great faith and courage, only to be left without the testimony of beating it. Hard working husbands lose jobs and the financial security we thought we had is gone just as quickly as it came in the first place.
It is in these times, it is in all our times, that we find our need for a Savior. It is in these times that we realize things will not be right until He returns and makes all things new and the wrong things right.
In any season of life we know with our head that Jesus is the One who Saves, but it is in the hard times, the broken and bruised and confused times, that we reach out to make this head knowledge a reality and anchor for our hearts.
He is near the brokenhearted. I imagine Jesus’ favorite place to be is sitting right next to each one of us when we feel the most alone and unseen. He loves at just that precise moment to wrap His arms around us and tell us He is for us and not against us.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18 NASB)
For He is not a God who is far removed, casually observing humanity from a distance. He is acquainted with each one of our sorrows and struggles and sufferings… He is the only One who fully knows the depth of pain a human heart can experience, and yet has loved beyond what we can conceive as possible.
God loves us so much that He clothed Himself with skin and fully embraced the broken human experience, becoming a man like us forever.
“who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:6-7 NASB)
I love that even after Peter’s denial of Jesus and in the midst of his shame and regret, Jesus made a point to see Peter and draw near to him in tenderness. (John 21) He is not intimidated by our weakness and even our doubts.
It is in these times that we, like Peter, learn what it is to be loved and to love in return.
Charis (Ka-reese) is a 32 year old mom to 4 (soon to be 5) boys and wife of 10 years to her best friend Bill. They are a full-time intercessory missionary family giving themselves to oversee The Watch House of Prayer in Redding, Ca. She is involved in raising up godly children, pastoring, leading worship and encouraging people in growing in a life of prayer and pursuit of loving God as the “One Thing” (Psalm 27). She writes regularly at her blog, At the Gate Called Beautiful, where she shares her journeys and encourages other believers to grow in faith together.
