Hope for the Brokenhearted and Wounded: Psalm 147

Hope for the Brokenhearted and Wounded

Psalm 147

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

Psalm 147 is a post-exilic psalm. Israel, because of its repeated idolatry, was given by God into the hands of its enemies. God had warned them that their continued idolatry would result in their captivity. But He did not leave them without hope. Though they would be captured and carried off to foreign lands, it would be for a prescribed time: 70 years. After those 70 years, God would bring them back from the place He had scattered them, and they would return to Jerusalem. Psalm 147 was written after these 70 years of exile, when the promises that they had been pleading for had been fulfilled. The people have witnessed with their own eyes that God has brought them back.

But when the exiles came back to Jerusalem, things were not the same as when they had been taken. Jerusalem was desolate and its gates burned with fire (Nehemiah 2:17). The walls and the temple had been destroyed (Ezra 3:8). Many of its people killed or taken to foreign lands. Not all returned from the exile. The new temple that would be rebuilt and the walls that would be erected again would not be the same as the former ones. So while there was restoration and the joy of the fulfilled promise, the former things had passed away. New things had to be rebuilt.

And so it is with us. The things in our lives that have left us brokenhearted and wounded, the “city” we had that now lies in ruins, will have to be rebuilt, restored, made new. And we need the One who is declared here in Psalm 147, the One who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. The One who has abundant power and infinite understanding. The One who promises to lift up the humble and cast down the wicked. The One whose word cannot return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it forth.

When faced with the brokenness of our lives, this is the God we need to build us up and strengthens us. He “takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (147:11). So as we live right now, passing as sojourners in a marred world, affected by the sorrows of this world, we can confidently look to the Savior to heal and bind our wounds. He is even now faithfully loving us and working tenderly to restore our souls. “He comes quietly, gently, reassuringly to me no matter when or where or how I may be cast down” (Philip Keller). This is what it means to “hope in His steadfast love.” We believe the truth of our Savior’s love for us, and we have a confident expectation that He will make all things new (Revelation 21:5), partially in time and fully and beautifully in eternity.

This psalm and many others were written “to create a sense of hope that one day the King would come to put everything in our lives and in the world in right order once and for all” (Futato). We are all touched by this longing to see everything put in right order. For the believer, it is not just a longing but a sure hope. We experience the pains of being brokenhearted and wounded, but even in our grief the Lord gently leads us through the dark valleys and gives us refreshment along the way. We are confident that our God, our healer and Good Shepherd, will heal our brokenheartedness. He clothed Himself in our humanity and He wept and grieved and felt deeply sorrowed. Thus He is our sympathetic, merciful, and faithful High Priest, who Himself binds our wounds. It was His wounding and suffering that made our healing possible. We do not minimize the sorrow, but for us the pain has purpose, and our hurts are not without hope, even when at times we may feel hopeless.

Each wound, each hurt, each sorrow and tear are reminders that this world is not our home. We are being prepared for a far better one. And until that day, when there will be no more tears or wounds or sorrows, we look back at God’s demonstration of His steadfast love for us in Christ’s death, and then we look to the future, hope and believe Him, that He will fulfill all His promises for us (Piper). Our God, who determines the number of stars, gives them all names, and loses none of them, will not fail to fulfill His promises to heal all our wounds. Our King is coming. The praise we can offer to Him now is a trusting, dependent heart that takes God at His word.

Let’s pray through Psalm 147, hoping in His steadfast love and trusting Him to heal our hurts and wounds.

He Heals

147:1-6 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.

Lord, I pray:

▫️I know that whatever things were written before were written for our learning that through the patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4). I praise You for the record of Your faithfulness to Your people and Your steadfast love. The testimony of Your word strengthens my heart to trust You even in my deepest hurts and disappointments.

▫️This psalmist testifies that You “heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.” You know me intimately and the things that have wounded and broken my heart. I know that not all things will be healed completely and made whole in this world, but I ask that, as You promised to give me Your comfort in all my affliction, You would comfort and heal, specifically regarding ____________.

▫️I need Your abundant power and infinite understanding to be at work in _____________. Even though a day is coming when You will make all things new, You are even now renewing, restoring, and demonstrating Your resurrection power. Use Your resurrection power in ____________, and give life to what is dead and call into being that which does not exist (Romans 4:17).

Hope in His Steadfast Love

147:7-11 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre! He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Lord, I pray:

▫️I would be filled with a song of joy to You because of who You are. Give me eyes to see Your glory in creation and in my painful situations. Though Israel experienced exile, it was not forever. I can sing now knowing that my wounds will not last forever.

▫️You delight in those who fear You and hope in Your steadfast love. As Your child, You will teach me to fear You and hope in You. Let me life, my heart, my words be a sweet aroma to You. Give me strength to not love and speak out of my hurt, but to have a graciousness in all my ways because I trust You.

Hope in His Word

147:12-20 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you. He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat. He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the Lord!

Lord, I pray:

▫️You would strengthen me by Your Spirit and bless my brokenness and wounds that they would produce Your life in me. Fill me with Your peace as I trust You to fulfill all Your promises to me.

▫️Send out Your word and Your comfort. May they come swiftly to me.

▫️I praise You for Your word and for Your Son, Jesus Christ. It is by His wounds I am healed (Isaiah 53:5). Thank you that He willingly clothed Himself in human flesh and bore my griefs and carried my sorrows. Thank you for my merciful and faithful High Priest, who sympathizes with my weakness. Help me to rest in all He has accomplished for me knowing that one day all my tears will be wiped away.

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May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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