Straight to the Heart

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 61:1-3

Today's Treasure:

"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted" (Isaiah 61:1).

Can you remember when you lost your first tooth? Rode your first two-wheeler? Lived through your first day of junior high? These were monumental experiences, yet you may not recall them. But if I asked about the first experience that shattered your heart, you'd likely remember everything—down to the last detail. Somehow having your heart broken is an injury in a class all by itself.

As I think back on a few of my own heartbreaks, I can almost feel the ache all over again. Not only is a broken heart inevitable from time to time; it is one of the main emotional rites of passage into maturity. Sadly, many individuals are introduced to mature emotions long before they should be.

One of the primary reasons God sent His Son to this earth was to bring tender salve and relief to those whose hearts have been broken. I believe that only God can truly and completely heal shattered hearts. He uses different methods; but according to Isaiah 61:1, one of His greatest priorities is binding up the brokenhearted.

Let's take an in-depth look at this wonderful part of the ministry God assigned to His Son in Isaiah 61:1. Take notice of the second active verb in this verse: "He has sent me." The Hebrew word for "sent" is shalack, meaning "to shoot (forth)" (Strong's).

Psalm 127:3-4 says that "sons are a heritage from the Lord, / .Like arrows in the hands of a warrior." We know from John 3:16 that Jesus is God's only begotten Son. John 3:17 tells us God gave His Son for the salvation of people by sending Him into the world.

God only had one arrow in His quiver. The most perfect arrow ever to exist, a masterpiece, priceless to Him. Cherished far above all the hosts of heaven. Nothing could compare. His only heritage. His only Son. But as God looked at the world—desperate and needy and in the clutches of the enemy—His heart was overwhelmed. Though they had sinned miserably against Him and few sought Him, God had created them in love and could not love them less.

Love reached sacrificially into the quiver and pulled forth the solitary arrow. The quiver would now be empty, His cherished arrow in the hands of hateful men. Yes, God so loved the world; but God also loved His only Son with inexpressible, divine affection. The divine dilemma: two loves. And one would demand the sacrifice of the other. He positioned the weapon, pulled back the bow, steadied His grip, aimed straight for the heart: "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger" (Luke 2:7, KJV).

Oh, what unfathomable love! What sacrifice! All who will lower their shields of unbelief and let the healing arrow penetrate shall be saved.

The next Hebrew word I'd like you to see is the adjective we're using continually for the heart. "He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." The Hebrew word for "broken" in Isaiah 61:1 is shavar, meaning "to burst, break into pieces, wreck, crush, smash; to rend, tear in pieces (like a wild beast)."

Have those words ever described your heart? Has your heart felt as if wild beasts were fighting over it? It hurts me even to think about it! This definition conveys the idea that a heart is almost always broken in a specific moment over a single action. Shavar means that we can usually trace a time of heartbreak to a single moment.

Can you relate to this definition? Think of a time when you suffered through a season with a broken heart. Can you remember one particular moment when, figuratively speaking, you felt your heart break? Did you have any idea at that time that God cared so much that He aimed His Son straight to your heart?

I'd like you to see the last Hebrew definition in Isaiah 61:1: "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." The word for "bind up" is chavash, meaning "to bind on, wrap around; bind up as a wound, bandage, cover, envelop, enclose." Strong's Dictionary adds a visual definition to the same word: "to compress,...to stop." How can we biblically characterize the difference between an aching heart and a broken heart? God defines a broken heart in our context as one that is hemorrhaging.

Compressing the hemorrhaging heart is the idea of applying pressure to a badly bleeding wound. What a wonderful picture of Christ! A crushing hurt comes, and the sympathizing, scarred hand of Christ presses the wound; and for just a moment, the pain seems to intensify...but finally the bleeding stops. Are you beginning to see the intimate activity of Christ when we're devastated? And to think, this is the same One we accuse of not caring when the crushing moment occurs.

Life's way of reacting to a crushed heart is to wrap tough sinews of flesh around it and tempt us to promise we'll never let ourselves get hurt again. That's not God's way. Self-made fortresses not only keep love from going out; they keep love from coming in. Only God can put the pieces of our hearts back together again, close up all the wounds, and bind them with a porous bandage that protects from infection...but keeps the heart free to inhale and exhale love.

Are you in bondage to a broken heart you have never let Christ bind and heal? Right now, you could conclude this lesson with a bandage instead of bondage. Expose your heart one more time...just to Him. After all, this is what His Father sent Him to do. The bow's stretched back and the Arrow's ready. But it's up to you to drop your shield.

James Strong, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Madison, N.J.: 1970).

Adapted from Breaking Free, by Beth Moore, pages 110-114. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000. Used by permission.