Brokenness

With all the happenings in life, we humans do get broken, whether emotionally, spiritually and even physically quite literally. These confirm to us that we are weak mortals that need help from One who is stronger. So, what does God provide? – a Saviour, Jesus Christ who is also our Rescuer from the plights and consequences of our wrong choices but not only that, He provides a person in the Holy Spirit to live within us who actually enables us to stand up and keep standing up when we fall.

In the Bible, it says that God does not despise our brokenness. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17 – written by King David after he committed adultery and killed the husband of his lover and was so so sorry to God). In fact, brokenness can be a blessing to us as we have to learn to lean on our Maker who knows how we tick in our uniqueness so that by God’s power and grace we don’t make the same blunder again. Then, we can hand the problems and difficulties we face over to God and trust Him to show us the solutions.

I seem to break very easily. I haven’t had the misfortune to have a nervous breakdown. I do tend to cry a lot which is a release from the stress that brokenness can cause. However, with this, can come self pity which I have to guard against. Just recently, I’ve had a set of circumstances that have made me very vulnerable and I’ve regressed into old patterns and habits that I thought had been overcome. God tests our character as well as chastening us as He is an exemplary Father. Joseph (in the book of Genesis in the Bible) had to be refined in this way. Whenever we fall or break, I have found that God is always at hand to pick us up and carry us when we can’t go on, as that poem about the seashore and one set of footprints reminds us.

Our children may not show so clearly when they are broken but with all the separation of parents from their children with all the temporary relationships in families in the UK becoming the norm, many children are like this, hiding hurt and many insecurities. With all the recent talk about mental health issues in children, I believe many of these come from brokenness in their lives and if the Answer is not given them then they become unbalanced and can feel very unloved and uncertain about the relationships around them which really need to be strong when growing up.

As we anchor our children into the word of God (the Bible) then they can know wholeness so that even when brokenness assails them, they can run to the One who can help them.