How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and You will not hear? Habakkuk 1:2 (NASB)
This is the cry of a person who is in the midst of adversity that threatens to sweep them away. The reasons for broken heartedness are more numerous than I have time or space to address. My intention is to show you that the Lord is the friend of those in despair.
The Lord is your refuge during this time. Do not be mislead into believing another human can address the healing needs of your soul for only He can see the extent of the damage that has been done to you, and only He can truly heal your broken heart.
Continue to pray. Cry out to God and bring Him your wailings and suffering. I suggest you do so verbally, in the privacy of your room or place you go to pray.
Many people are fearful of letting God see all that is going on within them as they wrestle and hurt. They reason that God does not want to hear their moaning and that God will not understand their pain. They fear that to allow God to see all the emotions churning within them would cause God to be angry with them.
I would point to Jesus as our example for transparency while suffering and heartbroken. Read through Luke 22 and 23 and Matthew 26 to see how He communicated with the Father in the midst of his sorrow at the Passover meal with his disciples and then in the garden as He talked to God about the hours to come. Jesus is not hesitant in the least to give the disciples or the Father a clear picture of his state of emotional heartbreak.
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Hebrews 5:7 (NASB)
Read the Psalms. There are many, many examples of suffering through heartbreak of all kinds in the Psalms! In no other book of the Bible do we see the myriad of human emotion than there. Each lamentation is open and honest and the Psalmist has no trouble pouring out his thoughts and fears and even anger to God.
I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. Psalm 6:6 (NASB)
Pray the Psalms. There is no greater comfort for me than to pray the words of the Lord back to Him. Because the words of the Psalmist are inspired by God, we can be confident they are “authorized” by Him and fitting to be spoken to Him.
I hate those who regard vain idols, But I trust in the LORD. I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness, Because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul,And You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a large place. Psalm 31:6-8 (NASB)
Seek help from others. John Donne said, “No man is an island” [i] and he was correct. God did not design us to be isolated and solitary sojourners through this life, especially when heartbroken.
We need the counsel of other Christians to help us keep things in perspective and to hold us accountable to practice truth in righteousness. It is far too easy to slip into self-pity and self-focus when suffering a loss. It is also important to look for opportunities to serve the body and refocus thoughts from self to others.
Look forward. This will end. If I am writing about you today, I want you to carefully consider the rest of this posting. It may not seem like it right now, but this is a temporary time in your life story and it will end. Along the way you are growing and changing into Christ-likeness. He is using this to transform and conform you, and if there were any other way to accomplish what He has in mind for you He would use it.
One day, maybe sooner than you think, you will be able to use your experience to minister to someone else. That is an actual promise God makes to those who are broken hearted.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NASB) You do not have to be “all better” to be used by God in this way. When your thoughts, beliefs, and desires are focused on glorifying God in the midst of your broken heart, He will use you to honor His name.
[i] Devotions upon emergent occasions and seuerall steps in my sicknes - Meditation XVII, 1624: http://www.phrases.org.uk date of citation 2/26/2012