Jesus Seeks the Broken

Jesus seeks the broken. He longs to heal, if only we are open to getting well. What about you? Are you feeling broken—do you struggle with depression, chronic illness, loneliness, or despair that never seem to end?

I’ve Been There

There was a time in my life when I felt broken beyond repair. I even read a book called The Broken Brain that described me perfectly. It offered hope in psychiatric medications, but I was already on the highest possible dose of Prozac and suicidal. Medication alone did not cure my seemingly intractable depression.

Then there’s the fibromyalgia that had me in constant pain for most of my twenties and into my thirties. I longed for the pain to cease, but nothing seemed to work. Doctors couldn’t even agree on what caused this thing I suffered with or how to treat it.

To Weary to Seek Healing

I am currently studying the Gospel of John in Bible Study Fellowship. It’s at least the third time I have formally studied this favorite book of mine, though I’ve read it many times over. Each time I study it, God shows me something new.

This time, in the BSF study notes, I encountered an idea I hadn’t really thought of before. On page 101, I read, “Sometimes seeking health and wholeness represent responsibility or effort that weary people cannot muster.”

That is how it feels when you struggle with a chronic mental or physical illness, or any circumstances that seem impossible to change.

The passage the above quote was concerned with is John 5:1-8 (NIV). This is the story of Jesus healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.

One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
(John 5:5-8 NIV).

At that time, there was a tradition that said when an angel stirred the water in the pool, the first to get into the water would be healed. But this man was too weak, too weary to take advantage of this promise of healing. He had no hope of ever walking again.

But Jesus—O how I love the heart of Jesus—did not wait for this invalid to come to Him and ask for healing. He sought out this man who had no hope and gave him back his legs to walk.

Healing Isn’t Always Physical

Sometimes, despite our feeble hopes and prayers, physical healing doesn’t come. Sometimes a loved one is healed only in that they gain their heavenly home and perfect healing.

Prayer vigils can lead to breakthroughs, but they don’t always bring about the result we want. I have a friend who lost her 18-year-old daughter to complications from the flu. We prayed for this godly young woman’s healing, but it was not to be. And yet, her parents are thankful for the time they had with her because the doctors didn’t expect her to survive her birth, but less live 18 beautiful years.

Jesus Sought Me in My Brokenness

But sometimes Jesus comes to the broken, just as he did to the man at the pool of Bethesda, and He offers hope and healing to those who are unable to seek it out themselves.

That is what happened to me with my major depression. I was unable to find an answer. Hopelessness and despair consumed me. I came to believe I was irretrievably broken.

While medication would help for a while, there was a deeper brokenness in me that needed the spiritual healing Jesus offers. And although I couldn’t come to Him, He came to me in a dream and asked, “Do you want to get well?” Then He showed me in that dream how I could be healed. He showed me how unforgiveness was fueling my depression, giving the medications no chance of ever balancing things out.

Do You Want to Get Well?

Do you want to get well but don’t have the strength to find a solution to your brokenness? If that is you, then I am praying for Jesus to see you in your brokenness, to show you the way to wholeness and well-being. I encourage you, even if you are afraid to, reach out to someone you know who will pray for you. Ask them to pray for Jesus to seek you and show you whatever truth you need for healing.

Closing Prayer for Healing

Heavenly Father, I pray for each person reading this article who is facing a deep brokenness that has left them feeling weary and hopeless. Seek them, Jesus, and offer hope and healing. Be their comfort and a shining Light in their darkness. In Jesus’s name, amen.