“Restoration from Brokenness”

The royal palace in Tehran, Iran, has one of the world’s most beautiful entrances. As one enters the royal palace, the domed ceilings, sidewalls, and columns seem to be covered with diamonds. When the Royal Palace was planned, the architects ordered mirrors from Paris to cover the entrance walls. When the mirrors arrived in their crates, they were all broken into pieces. They had been smashed while being transported. The architects would have thrown them all away, but one of the men had an idea to see how the broken pieces would look if they were fitted together. The result is an enormous distortion in reflections, that sparkle with diamond-like rainbow colors.

One of the sad realities of life is that tragedies and troubles can cause brokenness. When we are broken, we can feel that life is hopeless. Even though brokenness can cause us to view life from this perspective, there is hope. Like the broken mirror pieces that were fitted together and utilized for a special purpose, God specializes in working with the brokenness in our lives. As Nancy Leigh Demoss commented, “contrary to what we would expect, brokenness is the pathway to blessing! There are no shortcuts. The very thing we dread and are tempted to resist is the means to God’s greatest blessings in our lives.” In Psalm 147:3-5, the psalmist highlighted at least three blessings we can experience when broken.

First, whenever we are broken, we can experience the blessing of God’s sufficient quality care (Ps. 147:3). In (v. 3), we read, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” God is the One who “stands beside the sickbed of the brokenhearted, like a gentle physician with balm and bandage and lays a tender hand on [our] wounds” until we are made whole again. God’s attention to our brokenness is far superior to any care provided by the most educated, skilled, and experienced human physician.

Also, whenever we are broken, we can experience the blessing of being under the care of the One who has sufficient qualifications (Ps. 147:4). In (v. 4), the psalmist wrote, “He counts the number of stars; He calls them each by name.” The same God who placed the stars in their celestial hanging place is the same God who can heal our brokenness. Since God set things in order throughout the created universe (which included stars), God can set things in order within our lives. It should also be reassuring and encouraging to know that God is acquainted with every star on a personal level. If we reason from a fortiori line of reasoning, we can argue: if God knows His creation personally, surely, He knows His children (those who have been born again) on a much more personal level. He knows when we are broken. Thankfully, He patiently waits for us to offer Him our brokenness.

Furthermore, whenever we are broken, we can experience the blessing of God’s sufficient quantity of power (Ps. 147:5). In (v. 5), the author of this Psalm proclaimed, “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” The power that created the heavens is “great power” because it exists inherently within the God who is great. God’s power is not limited to the process of creating galaxies and celestial amenities. He offers restoring power, repairing power, redeeming power, and resurrection power. Each one is an essential resource for healing our brokenness.

Moreover, God’s power carries over into His power to understand. Because God’s understanding is limitless, it provides us with a wonderful reason to rejoice. What is the reason for rejoicing? Our understanding is limited. Therefore, there are times when we struggle to understand why the brokenness has to come into our lives through death, tragedy, sickness, loss, etc. Often in our quest to understand, we must conclude that we may never understand what we so desperately desire to understand. On the other hand, because of God’s unlimited understanding, He understands when we do not understand our reason for brokenness. Through His inexhaustible understanding, He knows the right procedure to alleviate our pain and brokenness.

As a result of God’s ability to handle and utilize our brokenness, He is always worthy to be praised (Ps. 147:1).

Lord, when I am broken, and I have feelings of despair,
Help me not to go away from the One who provides tender loving care.
Lord, I confess: I do not want to be broken due to the pain that I will feel,
However, until I am broken, I may never know that Your power to mend is real. 
Lord, help Your servant to see things from Your view,
So I will know that my brokenness is never beyond Your ability to renew.
—Trevor Crenshaw