"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit" Psalm 34:18 ESV

To have one's heart broken seems to be a necessary rite of passage into the fullness of the human experience. Unpleasant to endure, it can rend a youthful spirit and take away all joy from the heart.

We all have learned that, with time, its effect passes, but often our feelings of still loving or of missing someone will stay with us for some time longer. For the non-believer, they are told to "move on as best they can" and try to forget things, while the believer tends to be drawn to God their Father, for healing.

He draws His brokenhearted to Himself and lifts their spirit through His Son, mending those who return His love and to set free those held captive in spirit.

To better capture this aspect of our benefit of being the subject of our Father's love, the Hebrew draws the fuller meaning with these words: Nishbar Lev - "the one with the broken heart"*.

With a liberal interpretation of Nishbar as meaning (broken), and of Lev as meaning (inner self, heart, spirit), the thought follows that a heart full of itself cannot be healed, but the heart that is broken in sorrow or grief can and will be healed by the One who draws His brokenhearted to Himself and lifts their spirits through His Son, mending those who return His love and to set free those held captive in spirit.

Perhaps the fuller meaning and promise of God's mending of broken hearts can be had in a reading from the Book of Isiah Chapter 61, verse 1 ESV:**

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted (Nishbar Lev), to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;"

And then for Christians to read a little further from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4, verse 14 KJV:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted (Nishbar Lev), to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,"

That we have such a Savior in Jesus is to be counted for all joy and we thank Him with all our heart, soul and spirit for this wonderful mending of broken hearts. From the Father, the Son and by the Holy Spirit, it is extended to us in full measure and lifts us up above and away from our condition.

*Strongs Concordence - Hebrew

**Hebrew4Christians.com

Rik Charbonneaux is a retired NE Iowan who loves all of God's Word and all of His creatures.