Title: When I'm Broken
Contents
♡♥♡ When your heart is broken / Psalm 143:1-12
***Introduction
There are times when people are happy, but there are also times when they are heartbroken. From trivial misunderstandings or quarrels, from selfishness that does not take care of each other, from stubbornness that does not acknowledge each other, the reality of sorrow and pain, etc. There are a lot of things that hurt your heart.
A magazine conducted a consciousness survey of its readers. The topic was, ‘How do I deal with the bad emotions that come from my daily life?’ Some of the questions and answers are as follows.
1) What do you do when you are upset?
The answer of the 20-somethings was as follows. ①Drink a lot to get drunk. ② Go to the discotheque and shake it to sweat. ③ Go to a karaoke room and shout until your throat stops. ④ Close the door and take out two doors. ⑤ Call a friend and meet him.
Answers from people in their 30s or 40s are as follows. ①Drink alcohol. ② Run out of the house unconditionally. ③ Drive. ④ I read a book. ⑤Meet a friend. ⑥ Go to a karaoke room. / The song that people in their 20s or 40s mostly went to karaoke and sang a lot was ‘Soyanggang Maiden’ the most.
2) Were you relieved of your upset by the method you chose?
Not a single person in this question said that their stomachs were relieved or their broken feelings were healed in this way. For example, “I drank all night and almost died from heartburn”, “I drank all night and spent only money eating haejangguk the next day”, “I went to a karaoke and screamed and sang and was taken care of by an ENT.” did not help at all to heal the emotions of
3) Which method do you think is the best method you have chosen?
The answer to this question was, “I find a friend who understands me and I talk openly.”
4) Do you have such friends? If yes, how many?
To this question, 92.5% answered “I do not have such a friend”.
You can't find satisfaction in life in this world. Only faith in God can fill a hole in a person's heart.
There are not one or two things that are hurting our country or the whole world right now. Power-type wealth accumulation, general corruption, economic conditions, pollution, unemployment, concerns about economic airports, environmental disasters, etc. There are only things to wrap my head around and worry about. In addition, in a society that changes day by day, people's minds change to extreme selfishness, which causes quarrels and hurtful things to pile up. In this reality, what attitude should we Christians have?
The psalm, the main text, is full of David's mournful heart, longing for God's help in the midst of suffering. David expresses his earnest desire to be freed from the sufferings of his adversary. In other words, they are completely dependent on God while expressing their broken and miserable feelings to God. We hope, then, that we can gain wisdom in our lives by examining David's attitude when he was extremely upset.
1. David meditated on the Lord when he was broken.
Verse 5 says, “Meditate on all that the Lord has done, and remember the works of the Lord’s hands.” This is an expression of deeply meditating on the works of God. David thought about what God had done in the past. I thought about the work of liberation from Egypt, the work that led me through the wilderness to the land of Canaan, the promise that I will bless myself and be with you forever, and the power of God that has been with me until now. Then, he believed that God, who had been with him in everything so far, would solve his broken heart and troubles.
What do you do when you are offended? do you travel? Do you complain about your throat bursting at karaoke? Let us remember that David quietly “meditated on” when he was offended. This is James 5:13-14. “Is any of you suffering? I will pray. Is there anyone who rejoices? I will praise Is any of you sick? I will ask the elders of the church. They shall pray for them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.”
In Exodus 14, when the Israelites who had escaped Egypt came to the Red Sea, they were pursued by the cavalry sent by Pharaoh. The Red Sea in front is Pharaoh's army behind them, and it was truly a four-faced thatched house. Confused, the Israelites roared and blamed Moses, their leader, and were ready to return to Egypt. Then Moses declares. Exodus 14:13-14. “Do not be afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. The Egyptians you saw today will never be seen again. The LORD will fight for you, and you will be still.” That is to say, don't be fussy, don't think absurdly, and hope for God's salvation.
As we saw in the previous survey, we often see that when people are upset, they lose their discernment and get confused. But silence is scarier than talking and arguing. A person who is silent is more powerful than a person who talks.
When David was upset, he quietly meditated on what God had done. You know that thinking about people's things only hurts your heart more. David asked for help, thinking of himself and the God who had led Israel up to this point. That's right. Quietly thinking of and relying on God in any circumstance is the best way for a broken soul to be healed. David said in Psalm 62:5, “My soul, keep your hope in God. For my hope comes from him.” In Lamentations 3:24-26, “I say in my heart, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to all who wait and to the soul that asks. It is good for one to wait quietly, hoping for the salvation of the Lord.” He exhorted through the prophet Jeremiah.
2. When David was offended, he stretched out his hands toward the Lord.
Verse 6 says, “I stretch out my hands toward you, and my soul longs for you like dry ground.” What you think and meditate on in verse 5 is an inner action and a mental attitude. However, in verse 6, “opening hands” is an outward action and signifies determination. To “open your hands” means your own incompetence and non-possession. In other words, to God, “I have nothing. I have no power.” It is an expression that seeks the full help of God.
Psychologists have found that people who pretend to be good-looking and know people suffer from stress syndrome 10 times more than people who pretend to be ugly, people who don't exist, people who live like they don't know.
The life of faith is also much more stressful for those who show pride in their faith than those who acknowledge their weakness and hope for God's help. God also through James 4:6, “… “God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.” David realized that. So he stretched out his hand to the Lord.
In the book The Wounded-Healer, written by Henri J.M.Nouwen, a professor of theology at Yale University, USA, there is a story as follows.
There were four princes in a country, and they left the palace to explore the world with each other, learn special sciences, and then meet again. After many years, the four princes met again in one place to share the science they had learned from each other.
The first prince said that he had learned the science of building muscles to attach to one piece of living creature's bone. The second prince said that if bones had muscles attached to them, they had learned the art of making skin and hair grow. The third prince said that he had learned the art of creating limbs with only muscle, skin, and hair. The fourth prince said that if only the limbs were completed, he had learned the art of giving life to them.
So the four brothers went into the mountains and picked up an animal bone to test out the skills they had been learning. They each used their skills to attach muscle to the bone, to grow skin and hair, to build limbs, and to breathe life into them. Then the great lion got up, gasping for breath, and with its great mouth opened, ran at the four brothers. Clawing with claws and biting with sharp teeth, they eventually killed all four princes before disappearing into the woods.
This story is a warning to modern people who believe in their abilities or the power of scientific civilization. Modern people are destroying the nature created by God without knowing where they are going, making all kinds of advantages of civilization. In the end, the time will come when we will self-destruct due to the destruction done by humans and the vicissitudes of human civilization. One of these harms is hurting each other. Perhaps if even nature could speak, wouldn't they vomit their broken hearts because of humans?!
David confesses. “I have stretched out my hands to you,” he said. David stretched out his hands toward God, but turned toward him with earnest longing. This earnestness makes us completely trust in God, and contains a humble petition to know the way we should walk and an appeal to understand the will of the Lord and do it. This is an act of opening one's heart without hiding it, and it is an act of asking for God's help entirely.
There will be people who are upset because of their heartbreak, sighing in pain, and suffering because of the limitations of their abilities, as well as people who suffer from heartache without exposing their pain or broken feelings because of their face and pride. is. At such times, please sit quietly toward God, meditate on God, and stretch out your hands toward God. Then God's salvation and comfort will come.