Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™ I AM Ministries
“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
The Blessing of Brokenness
My wife has been an equestrian aficionado her whole life. She is a master of training horses and encouraging them to perform. She has shown me first-hand the process of breaking a young, high-spirited, and rebellious horse, and explained how important this process is. Unless a horse is broken, it is no Earthly good to anyone.
God looks at us much the same way as we look at horses – unless our spirits are broken, we are no Earthly good to Him. Many people, however, do everything possible to avoid being broken. I speak from personal experience.
One of the Truths we discover in God’s Word is that He often uses pain and adversity to bring brokenness to our lives. No wonder we often run from Him – our flesh encourages us to avoid pain. Thus, our rebellion seems to be logical, since our spirits are programmed to avoid discomfort. God knows this of course, yet He often introduces pain or invites suffering into our lives intentionally. He also knows our greatest periods of spiritual growth occur in the deep, dark, disappointing valleys of life. Why? Because these valleys bring brokenness of spirit, a prerequisite to spiritual growth.
What exactly is brokenness? Brokenness is the process by which God brings us to the end of ourselves and into total love, trust and submission toward Him. We cry out to God, “Why me?” when the injury comes. Then, somewhat annoyingly, we receive deafening silence as an answer. The silence raises questions. We ask why He won’t answer. We wonder why God would let “this” happen, since we try to be “good” people. Fortunately, Scripture tells us God is actually blessing us, even if we don’t recognize it. It is the Apostle Paul who is able to provide some perspective.
Paul discovered God’s power was made perfect only in a state of human brokenness and weakness. “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest upon me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The amazing Truth revealed is that brokenness is a blessing. This conclusion is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 4:17, which says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” It sounds illogical, but it’s true. Brokenness leads to true repentance, which then leads to salvation. We are all rebels by nature against God, and we always reject His free gift of salvation unless otherwise prompted to do so.
Romans 3:11 tells us, “No one seeks God.” Our failure to seek seems silly from a logical point of view, because God has done so much for us through Jesus Christ and has given us the absolutely free gift of salvation, something we could never achieve, earn, or buy. Yet we reject salvation because of pride and desire for independence. Moreover, no one wants to admit they are in a fallen, sinful, depraved condition or that they are absolutely helpless in saving their souls. Because of our foolish thinking, we run from God.
Fortunately, God loves us enough to work at breaking us of our pride and independence in order to drive us to Him for salvation. If God didn’t love us, He could easily turn His back on us and forget about us, releasing us to our own eternal destruction. It is normal for God to interrupt our lives carefully and wisely at the perfect times to remove the obstacles that provide a false sense of security, and He breaks us to the point of repentance.
God may be trying to break you in your life today. He may be stripping you, breaking you, and isolating you to try to bring you to the end of yourself, so you will turn to Him in repentance and faith and be saved. It may seem like cruelty to you and the rest of the world, but it is really a blessing from God. Those who reject His blessing beware: “A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed – without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1). Turn to God today and enjoy His blessing of brokenness.
In His love and service,
Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ
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