God Heals Hearts

Devotional

One of my favorite chapters in all of Scripture is Psalm 147. It’s a psalm laden with the wondrous works of God, rich with imagery and powerful in stirring our affections for God. In it we learn that God “determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names,” and that he “covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.”

The verse that I want to emphasize for us today, however, is verse 3: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Jesus was a perfect example of God’s heart to do this very thing. All throughout his ministry Jesus healed those around him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Scripture gives us insight into characters such as Mary Magdalene, who was delivered of demon possession and brought into close friendship with Christ himself. Jesus healed her spiritually, emotionally, and physically by delivering her from oppression and being her friend. Then there’s Paul. Before Jesus revealed himself to Paul, he was Saul, a man committed to destroying the very movement of Christianity that he would later give his life to build. He was a driven, successful, and prideful man. He was a religious zealot of great discipline, but a man far away from the heart of God. However, after meeting Jesus and being healed of his former ways, he was able to confidently say he counted all things “as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

God has the same heart for you he had for Mary and Paul. He knows the wounds that people, circumstances, and sin have caused in your life. He knows what you struggle with, the habits and addictions that hold you back from living the abundant life he has planned for you. And he has both a desire and plan to heal those wounds. God desires to heal your heart right now. You don’t have to wait to encounter the power of God. God wants you to live a life receptive to all the love and blessing he longs to give you.

Let the stories of Mary and Paul fill you with a longing to encounter more of God. Allow what God has done in others’ lives to stir up a yearning to be healed by God yourself. Wait on the Lord, open your heart to him, and let him do what he has promised to do in you. He’s promised his healing, transformation, and abundant life. All that’s left is for you to receive the gift of healing he longs to give as you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit today.

Take time to press into the heart of God to heal you today as you enter into a time of guided prayer.