BROKENNESS

'Not My will, but Yours be done.' Luke 22:42

If your goal is to be used by God, don't be surprised when He permits seasons of adversity and brokenness. Jesus experienced it, and He said, 'A servant is not greater than his master' (John 15:20NKJV). One Bible teacher points out: 'God's intent isn't to hurt us, but to expand our capacity to carry His love to a world in need of compassion... Sorrow clarifies our thinking. In the school of Christ, brokenness is a good thing. It's impossible to become intimate with God unless we're broken of independence, pride and our insistence that our way is better than God's.

Brokenness is the last stop before we finally confess, "I can't; God can." It's Paul confessing, "What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24 NIV). It's the Prodigal fighting with the pigs over food (Luke 15:11-32). It's Joseph, still in prison, forgotten by the cupbearer (Genesis 40:23). It's Jonah in the whale's belly confessing the consequences of running from God (Jonah 2:1-9). It's Peter weeping bitterly outside Jesus' trial (Luke 22:62). It's Jesus abandoning everything to God, praying, "Father... not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42 NIV)... God in His ruthless, loving pursuit will break us of pride, sin, folly and independence (Matthew 21:44). Like Jesus serving bread at the Last Supper, God takes us, breaks us, blesses us and uses us.'

Are you going through a season of brokenness? Be encouraged; in God's kingdom brokenness is the path to blessing. Watchman Nee put it this way: 'To have God do His own work through us, even once, is better than a lifetime of human striving.'