Broken? Let the Light In

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:6

I heard the following quote while watching an art journaling video: “There is a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in.” The instructor on the video didn’t say who the quote was from yet it struck me as being truthful and perhaps truth filled, so I did some research to find out who said it.

Interestingly, there are three variations of this quote out in the world.
The oldest variation is attributed to 13th century Persian poet Rumi. His version reads:
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.”

The next version is attributed to American Author Earnest Hemingway, his reads:
“We are all broken that’s how the light gets in.”

Finally, the third version is attributed to Canadian poet, singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen:
“Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in.”

The last one is the one in the art journaling video for sure, but, I have to say I think I prefer the other two better.

The passage of Scripture above talks about the God who in the beginning said “let there be light” also puts His light into our hearts. But how and why does he do this? Scripture tells that “He replaces our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). It tells us that “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).

Every time He heals our brokenness and binds up a wound He leaves some of His light to keep the life transforming healing going. But what causes us to be broken? We are born a bit broken, a result of the choice Adam and Eve made. Then our own selfish choices break us more. Whenever we choose to follow the world, to satisfy our needs in a way that causes God’s heart to hurt for us – when we sin, when we are disobedient, when we hurt others, when we act like we are ruling the universe – we break more, we get wounded in the battle of life.

When we reach a crisis point in our lives, when we realize that nothing we’ve done has truly satisfied our soul and filled the emptiness we have. When we are at the end of ourselves and cry out for help, even if we don’t know if there is someone out there to hear our call for help. He is there and the God who spoke our world into existence will come and heal your heart, bind up your wounds and leave His light in your heart to light your way all the way back to His heart.

Scripture is filled with stories of broken people who let His light in and found a new life, a life that will last for eternity. Are you broken today, shattered even? Call on Him and let the light in.

A Prayer Father – Some of our brokenness is out of our control and some of it is a direct result of our own selfish choices. We need you Lord now perhaps more than ever to come and bind up our wounds, heal our broken hearts and fill us with your light. Thank you for loving us so much. In the name of Jesus, who is the light of the world and the light in us. Amen.