This song has long been an influential song in my life because I have struggled to really understand and accept the fact that when we have strayed or are in despair, God calls us to come back to him just as we are; that is, a broken mess in need of being put back together. The truth is that before we trusted in Jesus Christ and put our faith in his atoning sacrifice and shed blood, we were all broken individuals. We did not know that we were incomplete, fractured creatures longing for forgiveness and redemption. And even after we found Jesus and believed in him, we still might find ourselves facing events that shatter our soul or times when we have gone off on our own and drifted away from God.

Maybe it is the betrayal of a close friend, the hurtful comments of a child, the abandonment of a spouse or significant other, or it might be a lack of time for God, or worldly distractions that have taken you away from him, or whatever circumstance has torn you apart inside and produced the damaged wreck you have become. In those times most of us wonder how we can pick up the pieces of our heart that get busted by the brutality of this cruel world and the assaults of our Enemy. He will try and chip away at us whether it cracks big pieces or small pieces off because sometimes even a small crack can grow into something bigger and bigger until it spreads across our entire self, disrupting everything about who we are.

As Mark Schultz sings about, we all have fallen short and we have all sinned, “but when you let God’s grace break in…” your brokenness is beautiful in the eyes of God. We must embrace the truth that God loves us and desires us in our current broken state, whether slightly bruised or beaten to a pulp. God is not looking to wait until you straighten up or get your act together or learn your lesson before he comes to you when you call out to him. Just like the excitement of the father when his prodigal son returned a broken man with nothing to offer his father except his regret (Lk 15:11-32), God waits at the door looking at the horizon for the point when we turn to him and come running back into his arms. Schultz proclaims the reality of God’s heart in this regard with the powerful line: “Cause there’s nothing more beautiful to God, than when his sons and daughters come….broken.”

Psalm 34:18 NLT
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

Psalm 147:3 NLT
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.