Recently, I had gotten to a point in my life where I couldn’t watch the news anymore. It seemed like all that was ever talked about were stories centered around hatred and war and violence and genocide and overwhelming, mind-blowing, crippling desperation. Seeing these things hurt my heart, so I avoided them at all costs. I lived my safe, comfortable, western-Christian life and turned a blind eye to the horrors that occurred in other corners of the globe. I knew that I needed to be more aware of what’s going on in this world that I call home, but I made the excuse that it was all just “too much” for my fragile heart. To me, it was a thin line between feeling uninformed and feeling utterly hopeless, and I constantly chose ignorance if it meant my heart could stay in one piece.
But then I stumbled across that Warsan Shire poem, and The Lord spoke to me. Spoke clearly and directly into my heart. I think Bob Goff puts it really well when he says, “I don’t hear God’s audible voice” but I wholeheartedly believe that He speaks “through flowers, other people, an uncomfortable sense, a feeling of joy, goose bumps, a newfound talent, or an appreciation we acquire over time.” And poetry. My Father knows that I love beautiful words, so He speaks to me through poetry. And through that poem, He said to me, “Ellen, this is how I feel about the world.” He is cradling His world, His creation, in His hands whispering “where does it hurt? I want to fix you. I have plans for you. I will bring restoration to you.”
I was slapped in the face with the realization that no one is more brokenhearted over the world than God. And no one wants to fix the world more than God. And He could do it all by Himself, but because He loves and cares for and believes in His children, He wants to use us to be part of the solution. But that requires us to have our hearts broken for the same things that break the heart of our Creator. We need to have our hearts broken so that we can view the world the way God views the world, love people the way God loves people, and serve others the way that God served us through the sacrificial lamb that was His son Jesus. And once our hearts are broken, God will have room to move and work in them. He will use our shattered hearts for His Kingdom and for His glory. What breaks our hearts will give us clues into where we’re supposed to serve, what we’re supposed to be doing, and how deeply God cares about His children and all of their baggage. And all we need to do is offer them to Him and say “here they are. Break them. Use them. Change them.”
And then, once we have allowed The Lord to do His work in us and in our hearts, we can remember to have hope. Two thousand years ago, the world dark with sin and separated from its Creator. But the Creator longed to reconcile His people to Himself, and so He sent His one and only Son to be born as a baby, to proclaim good news to the masses, to feed the hungry, to face temptation in the desert, to forgive those who trespassed against him, to demonstrate God’s love in the most radical way, to tear the veil, to die on the cross for the sins of the world, and to rise again after three days. And if that is not the greatest story of hope and reconciliation that you have ever heard, then I clearly haven’t told it well enough. So we can rest in that hope- the hope that comes from serving a Risen King. And as we serve the people/places that He has broken our hearts for, and dive headfirst into the trenches of the world, and proclaim the Good News to lost souls, and serve the least of these, and love the unlovable, and immerse ourselves in the darkest places where it seems like Satan has won the battle, we can cling to that hope. And it will be our peace. And we can always remember that God is at work, He has a plan, and He has always been and will always be sovereign.
With my first mission trip to Costa Rica, God broke my heart for a hurting world and a hurting people. And then He used that broken heart to lead me to the World Race. And I know that as I follow Him around the globe and spend nine months overseas, He’ll continue to break my heart. But He’ll also use that sorrow for a greater purpose, and He will reveal His Kingdom plans for my life through it. I am confident that as I witness brokenness and desperation firsthand, He’ll fill me with hope. Because I know that the One who breathed life into us and placed the stars into the sky is also at work in the slums of India and the orphanages of Malaysia and the villages of Zambia.
I’ll end with this. If you are a follower of Jesus, and you even remotely care about the world (which, considering the fact that you have read this far in this unpleasantly long blog post, I believe that you do) then turn on the news and listen to what He wants to say to you. Open a newspaper, and read about the troubles that are afflicting His children. Broaden your horizons on world issues, and allow them to break your heart. And then use that sorrow to show you where He wants you to serve, how He wants you to further His Kingdom, and what greater purpose He is calling you to. He might break your heart for the fatherless, or the drug addicts, or the homeless, or the ones trapped in sexual slavery, or the people who are filthy rich in material wealth but poverty-stricken in spirit. You might not know what it is right now, but I guarantee that if you seek His Kingdom, He will set your soul on fire for something. Then, grab hard onto the hope that stems from being saved by the Passover Lamb and being free from the shackles of sin. Carry it with you wherever you go, and remember that it’s the anchor of your soul.
For the Kingdom, Ellen
