Brokenness - The Principle, Part 2

“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
Give ear to my supplications!
Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!
And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous.
For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places,
like those who have long been dead.
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;
My heart is appalled within me.

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
I stretch out my hands to You;       
My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah.

Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails;
Do not hide Your face from me,
Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For I trust in You;
Teach me the way in which I should walk;
For to You I lift up my soul.
Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;
I take refuge in You.

Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me.
In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies
And destroy all those who afflict my soul,
For I am Your servant.” Psalm 143

Brokenness is not the exception in the Christian life - it is the norm. We like to recite the triumphs of stirring biblical characters - Moses and the Red Sea, David and Goliath, Paul and the spread of the gospel. Their moving exploits, however, are incomplete apart from the bleak contrast of their afflictions - Moses wandering the wasteland, David moving from one cave to another, Paul from one jail to another.

Their times of idleness, misunderstanding, rejection, and isolation were thorny preparations for their triumphs. They were not ushered into the work of the kingdom amid applause and affirmation but on the wings of the storm. The same principle is at work in Christians today. Following and knowing God is not a scenic highway with one majestic experience after another. The pathway of discipleship is often downward before it is upward, emptying before it is filling.

God uses men and women who have been broken by Him for His purposes. The breaking can be strenuous, but the result is a vessel fit for the Master’s use. And isn’t that what we should desire the most?

“Afflictions are but the shadow of God’s wings.” -George MacDonald