Instead of Broken, Healed

During the month of June, I will be writing a series of devotionals based on my upcoming book, Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World, published by Harvest House Publishers August 2019.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

Her eyes shone gratefully as we handed her a round loaf of freshly baked bread. The woman was an amputee, sitting patiently on the side of the cobbled street in the morning sun. It was too early for most folks to be out and about. On that bright Sunday, we were on our way to house church, a gathering in a friend’s home across the city where followers of Jesus would arrive at staggered times over the next hour to worship behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes of the secret police.

Our six-year-old son’s small voice snapped us out of our good-deed reverie.

“Why didn’t we ask Jesus to give her what she really needs?”

His question sucked the hot air off the dusty street and left me breathless. My children were accustomed to interacting with, talking to, and looking right into the eyes of deep, genuine need in the people of our Muslim community. A loaf of bread was a real necessity, but even a child could see that the woman’s need ran much deeper than hunger.

“What does she really need?” asked my husband.

“New legs. And a new house. That’s what she needs,” he said with his customary seriousness.

An old, wise man in a little boy’s body, we’d always said.

I held tight to the chubby hand of my toddler as my oldest son and his father discussed the problem of brokenness all around us. I walked along deep in thought about what exactly healing looks like, and what the human heart really needs.

All these years later, remembering that conversation still brings tears to my eyes. 

What exactly does #healing look like? What does the human heart really need? #coveredglory #insteadofshamehonor Share on X

Healing does not always look like I want it to. And that makes me mad and confused. Original sin has marred our existence, and suffering has taken residence in the human condition.

Our son’s question was fair. Throughout the Bible, we see Jesus healing the lame, giving sight to the blind, and raising the dead. He instructed us to help the poor and needy. But today I don’t see Jesus healing everything I ask Him to in the way I ask him to. 

Could it be that there is deeper brokenness He has His eyes upon, more urgent healing the human heart really needs?

The primary brokenness that plagues humanity is not poverty, hunger, or disease. It is a broken relationship with God. This is the most crucial healing need spanning cultures and classes across the world. This healing is the one to which all our other efforts must lead. To what point is physical, emotional, and mental brokenness if it does not lead us to realize our broken relationship with God?

The loaf of bread I give the hungry woman on the street must lead to satisfying her soul’s innate hunger for God. 

The dignity I give the homeless man under the bridge as I share a cup of coffee and conversation with him must lead to the dignity God offers him as a beloved child created in God’s image. 

The blanket I knit for the baby of a woman in prison must lead to the good news that the blood of Christ has covered her and her child in righteousness and sets them free from captivity.

Partial restoration of humanity is only that: partial. Complete restoration is not possible apart from Christ.

Jesus was broken willingly to heal humanity. The broken Messiah understands the broken human. He knows the pain of abandonment, the crushing of consequences, the bruising of betrayal. Jesus has walked the path of suffering for you and for me. He is our restoration in every way.

When I am restored to relationship with my heavenly Father, I know who I truly am. The truth about my identity as one valued and loved by the One who made me is the beginning of all other wholeness. My physical, mental and emotional wounds do not have the same power over me anymore. I am His child, and I am loved. I am forgiven. I am set free from shame. Truth begins its healing work in me, and spreads through every part of me, transforming everything about me.

Instead of broken, I am healed.

Lord, it is hard to see past the brokenness around me. Heal my most essential need, the need for a restored relationship with You. Make me an instrument of healing in the lives of others. Amen.

To read more about the problem of brokenness, see Chapter 12 in Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World, available for pre-order here.