brokenness

Opening Prayer: Let me hear joy and gladness, O God; let the bones you have broken rejoice. (Psalm 51:8)

Scripture: Psalm 51:17

Journal: What are your places of deepest brokenness these days?  What is God trying to do in and through those?  How is God meeting and healing your brokenness?  How might he use it to offer life and hope to others?

Reflection: Most of us flee brokenness at every opportunity.  But the truth is that our unique brokenness is meant to be an invitation into the heart of God.  Our brokenness, yours and mine, is meant to help us encounter God in an intimate and transforming way.  All of life, and particularly our pain, is an invitation to know God more deeply.  Our unique brokenness is an avenue through which God can get his hands on us and do a deep work in us, and then pass us along in a fruitful way to those in our lives and world.  Therefore we must embrace our brokenness, rather than run away from it.  We must receive it, own it, and know it deeply before it can teach and transform us as the Spirit offers hope and healing.  Only then will we be able to fruitfully give it away.  And the gift our brokenness offers to those around us is immense.  For it is those places where we have been most deeply broken that actually have something of value—by God’s grace—to offer our world, even if it is simply our compassionate presence. 

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice. (Psalm 51:16-17, The Message)