Lincoln Brewster - OxygenSample

Help us, Abba

Devotional for the song "Whole Again"

I wonder if most days most people feel like Humpty Dumpty? You know, the nursery rhyme egg that had a great fall, and all the king's horses and men couldn't put him back together again. I wonder if that's how most of us feel. We may be shiny and smiling, all put together on the outside, but inside we're a broken mess of heartaches, disappointments and tears.

If you've lived long enough, you know from experience that horses or men or even some king cannot make everything right. You've been down that road too many times. At this point, you feel like a child who wants to crawl into the embrace of a loving father. And that's just the invitation that God extends to each and every one of us, regardless of how great a fall we've had and how many shattered pieces we have inside.

Throughout his ministry, Brennan Manning preached the love of Abba – "Daddy." That's who we want, isn't it? Even if our earthly father may have been less than admirable, there is deep longing inside us for that good father, that Daddy who will gather us up and let us rest in his everlasting arms.

The psalmist said, "I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child… like a weaned child I am content." (131:2). That's what we want, to still ourselves like a child and feel the strength of our Father, who is always near to us. We want to feel Him holding us, gradually and mercifully doing what needs to be done to put us back together again, never with intent to harm but always with the desire to heal.

It is this tender mercy that makes us come alive, that gives us the courage to stand and try again after being knocked off the wall by the sufferings we all experience in this life. God's amazing grace is what seals us to face not just today, but tomorrow as well. This is no nursery rhyme. This is the story of God, the good Father who loves His children with a never-ending love and wants nothing more than for them to rise and walk in the light of His mercies that are new each day.

He knits our hearts back together, better than before, stronger in compassion and richer in mercy for we have felt His healing hands.