My God

My God, full of mercy,
Heard our weeping,
Came to bring us home again.
My God takes the broken
And makes them whole.

This Stuart Townend song has meant a lot to me for many years. Beautifully crafted lyrics speak of a personal God who accepts ordinary, broken people and transforms them.

My God touched the outcast,
Raised the lame man,
And He caused the blind to see.
My God takes the broken
And makes them whole.

This personal God doesn’t come for the rich and famous, or even the respected and good, but the broken – physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, spiritually… and puts the pieces of their lives back together again.  

My God stood for justice,
Shamed the prideful,
But He called the sinner ‘friend’.
My God takes the broken
And makes them whole.

Jesus intentionally reached out to excluded and rejected failures who’d messed up. They become his accepted, loved friends with new, mended lives…  

My God felt the anguish
Of the soldier,
Made his child to live again.
My God takes the broken
And makes them whole.

Jesus lived in a broken world. Through his humanity he saw and experienced brokenness… then he became cruelly, violently broken himself…

My God, mocked and beaten,
Crushed and bleeding,
Yet crying ‘Father God, forgive.’
My God became broken
To make me whole.

Jesus’ resurrection changes everything. From death there can be life, from failure there can be hope; the power and inevitability of brokenness can be broken.

My God, on the third day,
In the morning
Broke the shackles of the grave.
My God takes the broken
And makes them whole.

This is about me. It’s not morality, theory or theology. It’s about my God who knows me, accepts me, loves me and changes me. I’m humbled, grateful, and seek to be Jesus to the broken around me…

My God knows my failures,
Speaks forgiveness,
Gives me strength to try again.
My God takes the broken
And makes me whole.