Hope for the Brokenhearted - Pt 3

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:10-13 ESV).

Yesterday we saw that the foundational principle for gaining hope when your heart is broken is through companionship. The community of faith brings like minded people together in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to encourage and strengthen us even in the most trying of times. The Apostle Paul was encouraged when he was reunited with old friends and met new friends in the ministry he had begun at Corinth. However, he also received help in the form of perspective. God does want us to understand the “long look.” Even though we cannot have the same perspective that God does, we can know his hand is at work on our behalf. Paul preached to the Jews first and then the Gentiles. However, there came a time when he recognized that he was not the one to reach his countrymen. He was being called to move forward with the ministry to the Gentiles. Just because we can’t see what God is doing with things doesn’t mean that God is equally blind. Certainly this is the basis for his declaration in our reading today. He had learned contentment because he knew the provision of God would be sufficient. He was not declaring surrender to his circumstances; he was announcing that he had found a way to be the master over his emotions in the midst of them. God gives perspective that, in many ways, our scars make us who we are. I look at my own life. I’m sure you can find places in yours as well. Places in our lives where we’ve experienced pain, loneliness, sadness, frustration, despair, depression, and a host of other scars upon our lives, but you know what I’ve experienced? I’ve seen that God uses the pain of life to give me perspective. When I am most surprised by the change in direction God directs in my journey that is when I am most blessed as the path stretches out before me. It may be that your body has betrayed you with illness; friends have betrayed you, leaving you alone and brokenhearted; or, you have lost your desire for any sort of future because of a devastating loss of relationship. It is during those times that a new direction and clarity may be born. Healing and contentment are the result of that birth.