Years ago, I was talking with a colleague about the challenge of dealing with difficult people. As we conversed, he quipped, “Everyone is broken” and I have remembered that saying ever since. In a way, he was right. We all walk around with hidden scars and concealed pain. Sometimes, if people know our history, they may be familiar with a grief that stays with us or a loss that we are enduring, but often, each person we encounter has some aspect of brokenness that we don’t readily see. We experience them soldiering on, trying to make the best of a difficult situation. We witness them doing what they can to not let the pain bring them down. But we never know about the concealed burden they carry. Behind every smile is a history of heartache and hurt. For everyone who answers that they are “doing fine,” there is a time in their life when they were not.
The follower of Christ is not exempt from having a backstory of difficulty. They have the Holy Spirit working within them to comfort and give them strength, and ultimately they know that they will experience victory in Christ. Yet still, there are hurts that have not fully healed; there are aches they have not faded away. Even now, they may be in a season where they desire to be running the race God has given them, but He may be calling them to faithfully walk instead. Taking one slow step after the next may be His way of leading them through their own valley of shadow and death.
And that’s what the follower of Christ who is suffering must remember. While others may not see the bumps that dot their path, our Savior does. While others may not know the burden they carry with them, their Redeemer is well aware. They may have pain and heartache that stays with them wherever they go, but Jesus goes with them too. And no matter what difficulty we have experienced, no matter what challenge we are walking through, He is greater than them all. Despite the losses that linger and the uncertainties that creep into our mind; despite the hurts that haunt us and the brokenness that has yet to completely heal, He can give us peace. Peace that “is not as the world gives” (John 14:27) – it comes not from current conditions or tranquil circumstances – but peace that passes all understanding because our hearts and minds, our hurts and our pain, our past and our trials – our guarded by Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7). In the midst of the brokenness, He restores our souls.
The words that my colleague spoke were, to some extent, true. We are all broken – or to put it more accurately – we have all been broken. We all have pain and hurt – physical, relational, or emotional – that has scarred our hearts. But as we rely on Christ we can have healing despite pain, we can have restoration despite the hurt. Because when our eyes are fixed on Him rather than what we have or what we lack, He has promised to give us peace (Is. 26:3). As His Word promises, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Ps. 147:3). What a wonderful Savior we serve!
