Close to the Brokenhearted

Rev. King Duncan once told of a story originally reported by a journalist named Tom Junod. It was a true story of a young man afflicted with cerebral palsy. This disease affected not his mind, but his motor skills and his ability to speak. In addition, the young man had been abused by caregivers and so also suffered emotional problems.

One day a children’s foundation set up a meeting between the boy and his hero, Fred Rogers. Upon meeting Mr. Rogers, the boy became so nervous that he started hitting himself, and his mother had to take him to another room to calm him down. When he returned, Mr. Rogers carried on their conversation as if nothing had happened. At the end of the visit, he ended the conversation by asking for a very special favor: would this boy pray for him? The boy was astonished by the request. Would he pray for Mr. Rogers? He had always been the object of someone else’s prayers. But from that day forward, the boy began praying for Fred Rogers.

When Tom Junod complimented Fred Rogers on this idea, Rogers reacted with surprise. He had been sincere in his request for the boy’s prayers. As he said, “I didn’t ask him for his prayers for him, I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I wanted his intercession.”

It is so true. People who have gone through extremely difficult challenges in life often find they must draw very close to God. For them, it is the only way to survive. 

Psalm 34:18 promises, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted…”

My prayer for you today is that you would stay close to people who are going through tough times. Ask for their intersessions for you, even as you pray for them.

Let us pray: Loving God, today we pray that you would stay near to us, and near to all of those who suffer. Deliver us. Heal us. And use us as instruments of your grace. Amen.