Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. – Isaiah 64:8
What is your first reaction when something you value highly is broken? Do you get angry? Do you run away and refuse to talk to anybody about it? Perhaps you may even cry over it. Whatever your reaction is, the one you feel the most is a sense of loss as you have come to view the item as being irreplaceable.
Why you feel this sense of loss can be based on several things. It may be the time and effort you spent in acquiring the object or maybe it was a gift from a special someone. No matter how you came to get the object what matters is the place that it holds in your heart. When that object is broken, a little part of you is destroyed as well. You naturally want to blame the person who broke it (either directly or indirectly), which results in harming the relationship you have with them.
Broken objects can be fixed or repaired but they are never the same again. If we can’t fix it then we throw it away, but the feelings of loss still remain. It affects the way we deal with those who we hold to blame for the loss. We forget that our lives and relationships are irreplaceable and each hurt damage us and those involved in some way. The more value we place in a lifeless object, the less value we place on a real person.
Some of you may be thinking I value humans more than I value objects. This may be so but what happens when someone breaks your valuable object? Your anger and sadness over losing the object can override any feelings you have for the person you blame for the object’s destruction. Even if you forgive them, your relationship will never be the same again as the damage has already been done. What you don’t realise is that you have also broken an item that is dear to God.
God created us to be unique. There are no two human beings the same. We are destroyed more easily than any object made from stone, wood or plastic and we cannot be fixed easily or replaced. If a broken item makes you feel bad, angry, or sad, can you imagine how God feels every time one of his precious items is broken?
No matter how hard we try we can never replace the item that was broken. We can try to buy an object that is exactly the same, but we can never buy the same feelings we had for the original object. The same things can be said about people and relationships. On our own, we can mend relationships and people, but it will never be the same again.
We are the work of His hands and when that is destroyed, God gets hurt. The big difference between us and God fixing up or replacing a broken person or a relationship is that God can ultimately make all things new again. Only he can replace the irreplaceable with the irreplaceable.
Originally published at Inspirational Christian Blogs – June 2016