3 Things To Pray For When Your Heart Is Breaking

What three things should you pray for when your heart is breaking? What things would you suggest to pray for?

To Draw Closer to God

When children are young, they typically go to their parents crying, telling them how they feel when something breaks their heart. For some reason, we as humans like to draw closer to one another when we are hurting. We need hugs, a touch, and closeness. When our hearts are broken, the Lord says He draws closer to us, as Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” When we are crushed by something in life, God draws nearer to us, but we also tend to seek to draw nearer to Him. When we are anxious over something that has broken our hearts, Paul writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6), even if that request is to be closer to a God Who loves you and cares for you.

Giving It over to God

When our load in life gets too heavy, when life’s events just weigh us down to the ground, it’s time to unload these cares and give them over to the Lord. Peter writes that we are to be “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7). So “cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). Don’t try to carry this load all by yourself. You were never intended to carry such loads. Ask God to take it from your shoulders and put it into hands that can handle it. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30). A yoke is where the weight was spread out and shared among the other animals pulling a load, and the yoke made it easier to bear. That is what God wants us to pray for: letting Him take the load you cannot carry on your own.

Tears in a Bottle

God promises to wipe away every tear someday, as John writes, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4). But until that time, ask God to help you cope with the tears today. I want you to pray for God to heal your broken heart and to realize that God notices your tears. How can I say that? The psalmist says of God, “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You” (Psalm 56:8-9a). What a tender picture of a caring God. Imagine God literally taking every tear of yours, storing them in a bottle, and then putting them in His book. No tear is ever wasted. Think of the future, when there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death. Pray for God to give you perspective on a glorious future in order to endure the hardships of today. None of this will compare with the glory that’s coming (Rom 8:18).

Conclusion

What a tender heart God has. When our hearts are broken, it keeps us humble and dependent on Him for consolation. A broken heart is a tender heart, and that’s what God desires in each of His children. So give it all over to God, draw close to Him, and think about the indescribable future we all have as His children in eternal glory.