Brokenness
First, we
must define brokenness. Now when I define things I try to define them, as the
scriptures define them. So, brokenness is a condition of having been broken for
the Master’s use. Jesus said “Blessed is the meek for they shall inherit the
Earth.” (Matt. 5:5) Some want to equate meekness, with weakness, and that is
not the case. Meekness involves brokenness.
It is a picture of a wild horse. It
is beautiful, defiant, full of power and free. But, it is useless for any
purpose other than running free and making baby horses. It has great potential,
but not until it is broken.
So, what happens? The Master
purchases or captures the wild horse. This is a picture of our salvation. The
horse was chosen then captured. You are saved, because God called you and
worked to get you to accept Him. He has captured you. He purchased you. Yes,
being captured is a form of brokenness, but there’s more. God starts working on
you to make you usable for His purposes. Likewise with a horse, the master
starts breaking the horse. Driving the wildness and self-will from the creature
until the animal finally submits and becomes useable; then, comes more
training. Meekness is strength under control.
Humans have a nature in us that is
corrupted by the Plague of Sin. Not necessarily just our own sins, but our
corrupted nature that leads us to commit sins. That is why brokenness is
needed. It is not just a correction of our sinfulness, but also of something in
us that is deeply wrong with us. This sin nature came into us at the Fall of Man
in the Garden. We were created perfect, but when Adam fell it came into us and
has warped us. This Plague of Sin, Death, and the Curse from God is the cause
of all our trouble in this world.
The scriptures give many images of
this brokenness, and training. We see in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve
fell. God drives them from the Garden, and delivers several curses. (Genesis 3)
First, he curses the woman, stating among several things “I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conceptions;” Then, he tells the man “cursed is the
ground for thy sake.” Now many translations will render this verse “Because of
you,” casting guilt and blame. But, the idea in my opinion is more of “For your
good” For your SAKE.
The Plague of Sin and Death is
contrary to us. It destroys us; it pulls us from God and drags us into ruined
lives and Hell. But, the Curses from God are different. They are designed to
make life tough, so that we will wake up and turn to God. God is our only real
help. When a mother worries about her children, it draws her to pray for them
or give them to God. When a man struggles to make it, and to survive, it causes
him to turn to God for help. The Curse, is the answer to Death and Sin. We
could have great lives, living in Sin, and dying and going to Hell. But, the
Curse made it tough. So, that we will turn to Him and be saved.
But, that is where the problem lies.
Do we allow this life, or this world to turn us to God, or do we let it drive
us away from Him? Do we get broken and turn to Him, as He reaches out to us? Or
do we get angry, bitter and resentful, turning away over and over again
throughout our lives? The more we resist the more we get broke. God is
desperate to save us, and mold us. It is more important than anything else in
our lives; our salvation, and relationship with Him, will last forever.
Other images of brokenness include
“The Potter and the Clay” (Jer. 18:2-6) It is a picture of God desiring to mold
us into vessels that He can pour his Spirit into, and do His work through us.
You must understand that we never really do anything for God. God does his own work through us. Our works
are as filthy rags, but when God does the work it actually produces something
that lasts for eternity.
This is not just a play on words, or
attempts to deceive ourselves or others. This is real. There are times when we
know that some act we did was not of us. It was not of our own power, but
something worked through us or strengthened us, or enlightened us for a task.
Brokenness comes before we can be molded into the proper vessel. It happens at
salvation, when we really submit to God, but it also happens throughout our
lives and takes time. That is why one of the fruits of the Spirit is Patience.
We might know that God has used us; but brokenness will make us more usable,
and more often used. In fact as we step out to be used, we get used more and we
get broken more.
Another image is the “Refiner’s
Fire” (Mal. 3:2-3) As the refiner seeks
to purify gold or silver, he must turn up the heat on the boiling pot to melt
the metal, in order for the dross, or impurities to rise to the surface and be
scraped off.. As in our lives, trials, troubles, failures and difficulties,
cause heat that brings impurities up, so we can confess them to the Lord, and
He can start working on getting rid of them, we let God use them to cause us to
turn to Him, and learn from, to grow and serve Him and help others. We become
Gold or Silver that can be used.
That does not mean the troubles
cease, but we are with God, and He is the only one who can really help us. The
enemy will tempt us to become angry and bitter against God or life. That is a
trap. It causes us to turn from God, and miss seeing Him work and grow us. Of
course, God still works to break us. But, it’s better if we work with Him
rather than against Him. You must realize that I am not saying that God does
things to hurt us. He is our friend, and our Father. We have an enemy who
attacks us, and we have our own flesh and the effects of this world that work
on us. It’s our choice to turn to Him or away from Him in all these cases. We
have the authority in Jesus name to do battle against the enemy and drive him
out. But, even that works to break us, and grow us. Let the Holy Spirit guide
you, and turn to God. Use your faith to stand for Him and fight the enemy.
Jesus gives us another example of
brokenness, in the prodigal son story. A man went and lived wildly in the
world, like the wild horse. But, trouble came and it beat him, and broke him,
until finally he “came to himself” and realized that he needed to go back to
the Father. This happens not just with salvation, but can happen daily. It can
happen even more drastically several times in our lives. (Luke 15:11-32)
Brokenness is good. But, as you notice in all
these examples it involves trouble, or pain, or heat, or molding, or unpleasant
experiences. Again, please understand that these things come in life. I am not
saying that God brings you misery, or that He makes people sick, or suffer.
What I am saying is that we and He can use these things to grow us, break us,
teach us, and turn us to Him more and more, if we let Him.
Take a soldier whose friend steps on
a landmine and a piece of shrapnel hits us. We mourn our friend, we mourn our
wound, but we learn from the experience and we use it to teach others about
battle. We are in a war. It is a tough world, which breaks us. But, that
brokenness can be turned for good, and for God’s use; if we always turn to God.
I want to make another comment on
brokenness. It involves the Church in these last days. When we read of the
Church of Laodicea, and other churches in Revelation we plainly see that the
Lord, puts them or allows them to go into Tribulation, and even Great Tribulation,
in order to refine them and to make them as Gold. (Rev. Chapter 2-3)
There are tough times coming upon
the Church. The entire Bible screams of it. The entire Bible seeks to prepare
for those days, and to provide comfort in them. Tribulation, can lead to brokenness,
and to growth. The fires of tribulation where men gather together the twigs and
throw them on the fire can cause people to turn to the Lord, or turn them to
ashes and be trampled under the feet of men. Great Tribulation can lead to a
great falling away and make lamps lack oil.
Always turn to the Lord. No matter
where you find yourself, and whatever suffering comes. It’s far better to
suffer with God, than to suffer without Him. Let God build your faith, and
fight the enemy, leading people to Jesus.
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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois
Photo by the writer, Pennsylvania wilderness in winter
