Have you ever felt broken?
If I’m keeping it real, I’ll tell you that right now I feel like a clay pot that was hurled down a flight of stairs, or a china plate that was unceremoniously dropped.
The Christian community has started talking more about brokenness, and God’s purpose for our brokenness- which is wonderful. Churches are embracing the truth that we’re all broken and we all need Jesus. The phrase “beautifully broken” has even worked its way into “Christianese.”
But can I just tell you?
When I feel broken I feel the opposite of beautiful. I’m sure I don’t look beautiful either, sporting my ugly cry and my resting pout face.
Don’t get me wrong- I get the concept of beautifully broken, and most of the time I embrace that with all my mind and all my heart. But other times…
Sometimes brokenness comes upon us suddenly.
When we receive an unexpected, but dreaded, phone call or news from the doctor
When we find ourselves in a situation where we just don’t know what to do.
When people and relationships fail us
Has this ever happened to you?
Sometimes brokenness is our constant companion.
When we are grieving the loss of a loved one
When expectations are not reality
When it seems we just can’t let go of a deep heart wound.
Living with chronic illness is a constant reminder that my body is broken. Sometimes the reality of my pain and my limitations breaks my spirit too. Have you been there? Are you there now?
The only thing I can do when I reach maximum brokenness is remind myself of Psalm 34:18 and personalize it as I claim its promise:
The Lord is near to Pamela, the broken-hearted, and saves you, Pamela when you feel crushed in Spirit.
Have you ever done that? Taken a passage of scripture and personalized it? Read it as if God wrote it just for you? Because guess what? He did!
God wrote those verses just for you. He knew exactly when and how you would need to hear them when he inspired David or Isaiah or John or one of the other biblical authors to write it.
Isaiah 57:15 says: “A Message from God, whose name is Holy:
‘I live in the high and holy places,
but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed,
And what I do is put new spirit in them,
get them up and on their feet again.’
Verses 18 & 19 bring me even more hope:
‘I decided to heal her, lead her, and comfort her,
creating a new language of praise for the mourners.
Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,’ says God—
‘and yes, I will heal them.’”
That, my friends is breakthrough!
If you grasp these verses,
make them your own,
speak them as a declaration over your brokenness
and the things that make you feel broken,
then breakthrough is yours!
You may say, “but I don’t feel breakthrough. I don’t feel like an overcomer.”
And I would say, “Just keep declaring it!” There is divine power in the spoken word.
This is more than a pep talk or a self-help daily affirmation.
This is speaking the very words of God over your life!
Hebrews 4:12-13 in The Message paraphrase tells us that
“His powerful Word is… cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it- no matter what.”
Another translation of Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s word is living and active.
So there’s your secret- and the Beauty in the Between- between the brokenness and the breakthrough.
Cry out to the Most High God, the God who is with us when we are our most broken-hearted and spirit-crushed. And then, with that same mouth, declare His promises from His word and make them your own. You can even pray that way:
God, thank you that you are close to me, (your name), when I feel low-spirited and spirit-crushed. I ask you to put a new spirit in me. Help me, (your name), to get up on my feet again. Heal me, Lord. Lead me and comfort me. I, (your name), eagerly await a new language of praise in my mouth. I, (your name), stand with you and declare peace over my life and over my circumstances.
He will hear that prayer! Psalm 51:17 tells us that God will not despise a broken and repentant heart. So no matter what we’ve done, or what’s been done to us, the Lord leans down from Heaven to hear our prayers (Psalm 116:2 NLT). When we pray with a broken and repentant heart, asking the Lord to give us a new spirit and a new language of praise- now that’s a powerful prayer for breakthrough!
