Blessing of Brokenness

Before God uses any man, He first needs to break the man!

Why?

Because man, in this fallen age, is worldly, carnal, full of self, imperfect, unholy.

Even when the man is converted, there is still the need for sanctification; i.e. to be transformed from glory to glory. But man, in our sinfulness, tends to shun from sanctification, i.e. we don’t want to do what we need to do, and we do what we should not do. Some of the converted even celebrate our human fallen nature by using the excuse that we are human!

Let me let you in on an open secret - if you want to be used by God, if you want to be all that God wants you to be, if you want your life to be a miracle, then be prepared to be broken.

When the Holy comes near us, we will be like Jacob, broken but changed.

Matt 5:3 says this, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Brokeness, being poor in our spirit, is a sense of knowing our sinfulness in the light of His greatness. It is an awareness that apart from God, we are truly NOTHING at best .. … we are evil, calculative, self-centred, and very scheming (in our mind).

Broken people know grace. They have tasted grace, and are willing to give grace.
Broken people are mindful that we are all broken regardless of our awareness of it.
Thus, they are willing to forgive and forget because the pleasure of God is far more important than staying human.

If you have not been broken before, perhaps you have not known the freedom and joy in depending fully upon the Lord. Ask yourself if there are situations in your life where it is more convenient to leave God out of because it is so much easier to be in control with your own strength. There is no place for selfish pride if you want to be used by God to the fullest. Not even one tiny drop of it.

"I never understood that before. I thought it ridiculous that feeling good about myself displeased the Lord. However, I grew to learn that it wasn't so much about a healthy self-image then it was about me wanting to be God over my own life."
- Joshua Teo

"When I allowed God to push me out of my comfort zone into discomfort, I learned to rely more on him and grew closer to Him. Comfort made it easy for me to lead a self-reliant, God independent life. If it takes discomfort to break me and draw me closer to God, I will pray for more of it in my life." - Angus Sham

If you have been broken, thank God for this blessing and continue to desire brokeness before God.

Psalm 34:18 says,
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted,
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 51:17 says,
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Isaiah 61:1 says,
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;

Who wants to be broken today?


CSL