My heart is so heavy over the recent devastation in our country from Helene. I’ve seen video after video, picture after picture, story after story of loss of life, livelihood and landscape in the southeastern US. So unexpected. So very close to home. Everything looks so irreparably broken.
I know we don’t hold the monopoly on brokenness. There is pain, devastation and destruction in every corner of our world. Famines, droughts, floods, earthquakes—every form of natural disaster—plague this planet. War, disease, bigotry, violence and death show no mercy. Everything seems so irreparably broken.
One of my favorite Jesus stories begins with such a woman. Her life was marked by loss, rejection, loneliness and failure. Everyone else saw this nameless woman as someone who was irreparably broken.
But Jesus. The Lord saw her as a precious girl who was hurting and seeking wholeness, and He was moved with compassion. So much so, that He broke all the “rules” in order to reach her. John 4:4 says He “needed” to go through Samaria; this broken woman and her people were the reason.
So, Jesus met her at Jacob’s well in the heat of the day. In fact, He waited for her. She came for water, but Jesus knew she had a much deeper need. She was trying to quench her thirst for hope and peace with dirty water that would never satisfy. In great love, He offered this girl—defined by brokenness—the only water that can quench a thirsty soul and satisfy a parched heart. He offered her Himself.
Suddenly, she forgot she was even thirsty! She dropped her water pitcher and ran to tell the whole town that the Messiah had come! “Many Samaritans believed” because of her testimony.
That’s what happens when a thirsty person finds water. She can’t wait to tell other thirsty people where to find it. And when that water is God Himself, everyone you know is thirsty.
We have all been broken in some way. Some through our own choices. Some through the choices of others. Some through things beyond anyone’s control. We live in a sin-broken world, where pain is part of the journey. But I have good news! Our Savior was broken so that we might be made whole. He felt pain and loss and rejection and devastation… all for us. He draws near to the broken, is moved with compassion, and tenderly offers healing.
We don’t need to be defined by our brokenness, friend. There is no broken too broken for Jesus. No one is irreparable. He—and only He—can mend our shattered lives and meet our deepest needs. Oh, how He wants to. He’s seeking us out, saying, “Let everyone who is thirsty, come.”
Come broken. The Healer awaits.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
(“The Solid Rock“ by Edward Mote)
(Image by Sunnyvale Baptist Church of Marion, NC in the aftermath of Helene)
10/05/24