Our sorrows become His salve…

Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Afflicted, brokenhearted, captive prisoners...

Those are the ones I may be tempted to pass by due to what may be required of me in order to help them, but Jesus is literally drawn to them. He “is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalms 34:18) And He “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalms 147:3)

His desire is to bring healing, freedom, comfort and joy to His precious seedlings. So, He sends us, all wrapped up in His Spirit.

And we have the amazing privilege of watching Him “do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Ephesians 3:20) in these treasured one’s lives. How utterly glorious it is to partner with Him!

Thankfully, we need not do it in our own strength. And our path does not need to be free of sorrow. He actually uses our sorrow to fortify our hearts.

Psalms 84:5-7 "How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion."

Only when we walk in His strength and not our own, do we discover the hidden highways in our hearts that usher us directly into His presence. And learning to embrace our sorrows is crucial on the journey. We pass through times of “Baca” (which means weeping) but out of our innermost being flow “rivers of living water,” (John 7:38) and by discovering the blessing of tears we come to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” (Philippians 3:10) He uses it all…so amazing. Our sorrows become His salve.

And as we press on, He adds strength to what meager strength we have and establishes our “hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:13)

Oh, to stand in His presence and hear “well done, good and faithful servant…”