The Brokenhearted

Psalm 147:3 NIV: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

This is such a simple verse with profound comfort. The word for heal in Hebrew is rapha. Have you heard the term Jehova Rapha? The God who heals. The word rapha means to mend, repair, cure or heal. I resonate with the words mend and repair. I can easily picture a piece of pottery molded back together. My brain so quickly goes to pottery because of all the Biblical references to us as clay in the Master Potter’s hands. To add to this illustration, you should know that the word used here for broken in Hebrew is shawbar, which means to burst, break into pieces, crush, or shatter. Add to this the Hebrew word for heart, which is leb. Leb means much more than our physical heart; in Hebrew, it implies our inner self, emotion, will, and thoughts. To be brokenhearted then encompasses more than emotions; I think it can be crushed dreams and plans, broken ideas that threaten to overwhelm us, loops that spin in our minds, and hearts that tear us to pieces.

The second part of this verse uses the word bind, in Hebrew chabash, meaning to wrap firmly. And what is being wrapped firmly? Our wounds or atstsebeth, which means hurt, pain, sorrow, or wound. Sometimes, before healing occurs, our hurts must be tightly bound. Binding stops the injury from progressing. From a medical standpoint, wrapping a wound stops bleeding, reduces swelling, and protects from infection.

I wanted this art piece to show both the wrapping and the healing, but I also wanted to imply the complexity of being restored. It’s a process of recognizing the pain to stop it from worsening and then allowing the mending to occur, piece by little piece.