Broken

Job 17:1 AMPC

My spirit is broken, my days are spent (snuffed out); the grave is ready for me.

Job 17:11 AMPC

My days are past, my purposes and plans are frustrated; even the thoughts (desires and possessions) of my heart [are broken off].

Job 19:10 AMPC

He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope has He pulled up like a tree.

Listening to Thomas Hand, from Kibbutz Be'eri, tell about the state of kibbutz members' lives since October 7th he said:

"We're broken!"

Yes, he has received his daughter Emily back from Gaza. She is 9 years old and surprisingly resilient, but others still wait for news of loved ones held hostage; others grieve for lives lost in such a murderously cruel attack.

Trauma hangs like a cloud of gloom over this once peacefully idyllic community.

Lives smashed and shattered by calamity.

You can almost hear the cries of Job echoing in their souls.

No doubt the scars of war are digging deep in Gaza too.

Nothing makes sense in the fallout of such a bloody conflict.

Yet in a way we all must face brokenness in some form during our lives.

Perhaps through failure, financial collapse, bereavement or ill health we come to a full stop - completely broken.

What then?

In the stillness of heartache and helplessness can you hear the gentle words of Jesus:

"This is My Body, broken for you"..

Yes, Jesus knows all about brokeness - He gave up His broken body exactly as the answer to our cries of despair:

Isaiah 53:4-5 NLT

Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins! [5] But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

The Cross of Jesus looked like the death of hope, but became the blessed Doorway to new life.

Redemption for every broken soul is there ...

Whatever heavy load of despair you are carrying, Jesus has already bourne it for you, you don't have to bear it anymore.

Take, eat, this is My Body broken for you!

It's a mysterious wonder that He can take our broken lives and turn these around for good.

Offer up prayers for broken lives everywhere.