Saturday Reflection – 17 July 2021

Saturday Reflection – 17 July 2021

“He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

Many times, while going through the hustle and bustle of life, through weeks of work, school, chores at home, and the many other challenges that we face, we may end up burned out and in need of one of those “Mental Health Days.” Even so, there are times, we just long for a time of rest, calm out of the hustle and bustle, and in these moments, we hear the Psalmist saying “… In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

In today’s watchword, the Psalmist celebrates God’s care for Jerusalem. He finds it appropriate to sing praises, as God has cherished, gathered, and comforted his people. He recognizes God’s authority as the sovereign creator of the world, who sets and orders everything as they are, and whose greatness cannot be matched by our human understanding, and whose way far exceeds our own capacity to comprehend. It is this God, who in our Lord Jesus Christ invited us to his sweet presence saying “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (St. Matthew 11:28-30)

This invitation by Jesus reminds us of this Sovereign God, in whom the Psalmist celebrates. For the one who is broken, whether by sin or in struggle, by the challenges of life, strained by the load that we have to carry, can find relief in God. Many times, we fear that since we have dishonoured God through our sinful actions, that we can no longer be lifted from the miry clay. Also, we believe that the circumstances that we go through are punishment for sin or some wrongful deed that we committed. Furthermore, we sometimes look to others to compare our lives and theirs, some fellow Christians, some not and begin to question why their lives, are on the basis of our analysis, not as tumultuous as ours.

However, out of God love for us, he has offered to us this relief, this consolation in Him, that He will not despise a contrite and a broken heart, that He will hear us when we cry, and that He is concerned with our needs, our challenges and that He knows what is like to experience temptation, challenge, and grief. (Psalm 51:17, Psalm 34:17, St. John 11:35, Hebrews 4:15) And by the consolation of his sweet Holy Spirit, there is peace, knowing that our sins are forgiven, knowing that he is consoling us and holds us in the hallow of his hand, knowing that he journeys with us, and relieves us in our distress. Even so, the Spirit of God transforms our fear, anxiety and doubt into love, power, and soundness of mind. It is that comfort, that balm in Gilead, that knowing that in the moment of deep distress, crying to Jesus that we are tired, that we remember again Jesus’ invitation – “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (St. Matthew 11:28-30)

And when we come to God, we will find that He is exactly who He says He is. But we ought to trust God, and allow God, whose thoughts and ways and higher than ours, who has our best interest at heart, to work all things for our good. We may think, like Paul did, that the promise is to remove the thorn in our flesh, to take away the challenges that we face, and make it smooth sailing. And that would be our definition of rest. But out of Paul’s experience, we are reminded that God’s grace is sufficient, and God’s power is perfected in our weakness and therefore Paul declares “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (1 Corinthians 12:9b-11)

When you come, and learn, you will find in God to solace and strength to overcome the challenges, as in His presence, there is fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore. Not that we no longer face our difficulties, but God’s power is made perfect in our weakness, and as such when we are weak, then we are strong. For he heals the brokenhearted, binds the wounds, gives us grace to carry on, the will and strength to overcome and a song of praise in our hearts.

Until next week, we are reminded in today’s watchword that “He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3) “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) Amen.

Dominic J. Blair