God's Lessons From Little Folk (1)

Psalm 147:3-5 – He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. (NIV)

My friend Joy's four-year-old daughter, Leah, had a way of making up any number of excuses in order to come out of her room after she had been tucked in bed for the evening. After several evenings of Leah wandering in and out of her room until ten and eleven o'clock, Joy tucked her daughter in bed, and she told her firmly, "Don't come out of your room; it's bedtime — time to go to sleep."

Joy closed the door, fully expecting to hear Leah's wail of protest, but the toddler said nothing. In fact, things were too quiet, and, as the evening passed, Joy developed an uneasy feeling. This wasn't Leah's pattern. Usually the child used every excuse she could think of to get a drink or an extra hug. Tiptoeing to the bedroom door, Joy could hear Leah jabbering to her teddy. She couldn't resist a peek. A delighted Leah greeted her. Apparently the child had discovered a jar of zinc oxide, and thought that if a little was good then a lot was even better. She had smeared the ointment on herself from hair to toe, and, at the time her mother opened the door, she was busy adding a generous dose on her teddy. "I'm fixing teddy's hurt," she explained to her mother with a giggle.

This incident reminded me of today's Scripture in Psalm 147:3. Here David tells us how God Almighty invites us to come to Him so that He can heal our broken hearts, and tenderly bind up our wounds.

Prayer: Dear God, help us to know that we can bring our hurts, our broken hearts, and our illnesses to You, for You have promised to bind our wounds. Amen.