by Rev Douglas Brauner

God’s Cure for Our Broken Hearts

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

The title of this bench seems to have no connection to its construction: Call, Push, Shock. The heart at the center of this bench looks like something from a boutique. However, this bench is symbolic of saving the lives of people who experience a cardiac episode. The title refers to training offered to help save people’s lives.

By nature our hearts suffer from a form of cardiac arrest that’s spiritual and yet affects our whole person. It’s called sin. Sin separates our hearts from God. The remedy for our condition is found in Christ.

Call

“The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”
Psalm 145:18 English Standard Version

The first thing someone does when helping a person through a heart attack is call for help. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes the call for us. The Holy Spirit draws our hearts to the One who has redeemed us, saved us, and given us a new heart.

Push

“You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.”
Psalm 4:7 English Standard Version

Keeping someone alive who’s experiencing a heart attack often comes from outside of that person. Someone pushes that heart, keeping it pumping. It is the Holy Spirit who puts joy in our heart. As David understood, joy comes from the Lord, not the circumstances of life.

Shock

“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 English Standard Version

A shock to someone’s heart might just keep them alive. The words, “you are mine,” are the shock that keeps our hearts alive. Through Jesus we daily hear the words, “you are mine.”

Jesus is the healer of our broken hearts.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado