Broken

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isaiah 61:1

Life is hard, but life is also good, in spite of the hard times. That being said, I'm so tired of seeing the brokenhearted emoticon listed as one of my most-used favorites!! 

I know that we just talked about God's grace and how it abounds to us when we are surrounded by the enemy of our souls. However, today, I want to dig a little deeper in Hebrews 4:16, where we find grace to help [boētheia] in time of need. I am SO grateful to God that we have His Word to turn to in such times. 

His Word that declares we are to emulate Him, so we are to bind up the brokenhearted. His Word that declares in Hebrews 4:16, Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help [boētheia] in time of need.  This past week,  I learned that help in this verse comes from the word boētheia, which means to Frap. To Frap is a nautical term that means tying a rope-like material around the bow of the boat or ship, to hold it together, reinforcing it.  

Let's face it - To be broken is to be in pieces. Life can do that to us sometimes. Death of a loved one, loss of a home or a job. Broken. The Good News is in our Promise for Today - God sent Jesus to bind up the brokenhearted. Next...

Prayer:

Father,

          Please take all of our broken pieces and put them together again. We want to grow and develop into what You would have us to be, according to what You have planned and purposed for our lives. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.