A Broken Heart

by Dorothy Teague

Just mention February, and people automatically think of Valentine’s Day. For most people, images of flowers, chocolates, cards, and the whole romantic Hallmark scene is what we think of and aspire to. Being in love is a wonderful feeling, but as we surrender our hearts and open ourselves up to love someone, we become vulnerable and risk being hurt. As a matter of fact, chances are one hundred percent that we will have a broken heart several times in our lives. People will hurt us, and we will hurt others because we are human. The only one who will not fail us is Christ. In Jeremiah 31:3, He says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Jesus, Himself, knows quite a lot about having a broken heart.

Jesus died of a broken heart when He hung on the cross and died for all mankind. As He hung there, with all the sin of the world upon Him, He was in such physical, mental and emotional distress that His heart burst open and spilled out for us. There is a condition known as Broken Heart Syndrome, also known as stress cardiomyopathy, which occurs when a person experiences sudden acute stress that can rapidly weaken the heart muscle. Two kinds of stressors, emotional or physical, often cause this. Emotional stressors include grief, while physical stressors such as significant bleeding, difficulty breathing, and chest pain can result in this (www.hopkinsmedicine.org).

Jesus had been beaten and wounded repeatedly before He ever got to the cross and endured the physical trauma that hanging there put on His heart. But, more than this, He was experiencing grief from being separated from His Father. God could not look upon sin, so He had to turn away. Even though Jesus knew He must finish the work on the cross for our redemption, the agony He felt being apart from His Father must have been unbearable! Yes, Jesus knows all about a broken heart in every sense of the word. He knows us and understands us better than we know ourselves. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet without sin.” He “knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). We were designed to love and be loved. But, when we get hurt along the way, we can find solace in the Word of God. He reminds us that He is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18), and that He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3). Your Valentine’s Day may not be like a Hallmark movie where everything turns out perfectly in the end, but there is One you can depend on to always love you perfectly; His name is Jesus!