Brokenness
We can learn a lot from nature. Yesterday as I was preparing the ground to sow the seeds for my garden, I was reminded of a verse in Hosea 10.12, “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up the fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.” Since last Fall I have been meditating on this verse. As a church, we have been attempting to live this out by being more passionate in our love and worship of the Lord and compassionate toward others. Since the first of the year, we have begun a 24/7 prayer watch and continuous cycles of 40 days of fasting, ending each cycle with a night in which we pray for the sick. God has been meeting us in a powerful way, with a new experience of His presence and many testimonies’ of healing and lives transformed. We have also initiated a charitable association, A.C.A.L., to serve the practical needs of the poor. We desire to bear much fruit, but there is a condition of the heart that must be met for this to happen.
In Psalms 51.17, the Lord says that He desires from us a broken and contrite heart. In the context of this verse, brokenness is repentance. It is the bringing of what is hidden in us out to the open. Confession of sin is making it known, being transparent and accepting responsibility for our errors. When it is confessed it can be repented of. But, I believe, brokenness has yet a broader meaning. It is not just matter of repentance, but also a life-style. The alabaster jar that contained the expensive perfume had to be broken for Mary to anoint the feet of Jesus. Brokenness here is the letting of the good treasure and fragrance of Christ come from us to others. Our lives are not to be guarded and closed off to others, but rather to be laid down and given as a living sacrifice to the Lord and others. This is our desire with the life He has given us.
Each time we take communion we are remembering the Body of the Lord Jesus that was “broken” for us. Jesus’ brokenness resulted in our salvation. When He said, “not my will, but Thine be done”, he broke the power of self-will, self-desire and self-ambition in His life and allowed the sweet fragrance of the Love of God flow from Him to all of us. This is the life style that is so pleasing to the Lord. It is the broken and contrite heart that God so desires.
Where there is hardness of heart, there is no fruit. The fallow ground must be broken up or plowed. This happens as we passionately seek the Lord, or can happen as a result of going through adversity and trials. How would you like to be broken?
Scriptures to meditate on: Mark 14.3; I Cor. 11.24; John 15.16; I John 3.16