The Broken

 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  Luke 19:10....."Don't fear broken things and places, for its where He'll do a new thing." Ann Voskamp

Luke 19:10 has long been a precious verse to me. Precious because of how real and true it has been in my life, and in the lives of so many others. Precious because of how He has worked its truth and power into my life. It has always seemed to me that no one was more lost, broken, cut off, than me, and yet He came. He laid hold of me. Made me whole and made me new. 

It is also precious to me because it not only was what He did in me personally, but what He did as concerns me. He saved and restored so much that I believed had been lost to me forever. Lost hope and lost dreams. Lost relationships and lost ministries. Lost future and lost identity. All had at one or another seemed lost beyond recovery, and yet they were not. There's a chorus from the 90's that goes, "He went into the enemy's camp and took back what he stole from me." There is great biblical truth in that, and it is exactly what He did for me, and countless others. I pray that truth has been experienced by you, and if not, that it will be. No one seeks, finds, and saves that and those that have been lost but Jesus. Believe upon Him to do so.

Voskamp's quote connected to Luke 19 is also powerful. Powerful because it is so true. We fear the broken places and things of this life. The devil convinces us that the broken place will be our permanent place. God wants us to know and experience that He is the God of new things, and He does these new things through His Son Jesus. Jesus said in His Word, "I make all things new." All things, even the most broken things. I can't explain how He does so, but He does so. He turns the dead end into a doorway. A doorway into a new place filled with new opportunities. He takes our shattered dreams and hopes and gives us new ones, better ones. 

There is an old saying that when one door closes, God will open another. He will, but sometimes we may spend some real time waiting for it to open. As someone said, "It can be hell in the hallway." It's there we must hold on, trust, and believe that the hallway will not be our lifeway. Voskamp says that "faith gives thanks in the middle of hard stories." It can do so because it knows that the hard story is not the end of our story. He won't leave us in the hallway. 

Whatever you feel has been lost forever, trust Him, in ways only He can, to seek, save, and redeem it. He knows where you are, and He knows what has happened. He made no promise that He will not keep. Hold to it, and experience His making all things new in you, and even around you. He is faithful.

Blessings,
Pastor O