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

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

You’ve heard that term all your life, right? Brokenhearted! But what does it mean? Does it mean how you feel when someone you love leaves you for another? Does it mean deep disappointment? Does it mean deep sorrow? Well, here in this verse, it literally is “heart broken” in the Hebrew. The word “heart” can be translated as feelings or emotions. The word “broken” can be translated as crushed or destroyed. Wow! Get the picture!

But let’s not focus on that. Let’s look instead at the word “heals.” This is the word “rapha” in Hebrew. One of God’s names in Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. He is the ONLY cure and treatment for a broken heart. People run to relationships, alcohol, drugs, sex and a myriad of other things to try to soothe a broken heart. But the only thing that can heal it is the One Who created it in the first place.

TEACHING MOMENT

Your children, if they haven’t already, are going to experience a broken heart at some point in their life. Mom and Dad, you can’t heal it. You can let them cry on your shoulder. You can offer counsel, but you can’t heal. You have to point them to Christ to receive the healing balm they need to apply to that open wound. What is neat about His bandages is when they are removed after the healing has taken place, they don’t hurt. You don’t have to count to three and jerk it off. Because of the way God heals, the wound heals completely. There may be a scar for some of those wounds, but He heals wholly.

So when you are faced with a brokenhearted child or one yourself, trust the Healer. Let Him apply the ointment and bandage. His tender kisses and touch can heal the deepest wound.