Psalm 51:17
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.”
Jerry was strong, confident, and capable and this was because he had successfully learnt how to survive pressure without showing people his weakness. Even in ministry, he was relying on discipline and the experience he had more than depending on the Lord. But there was a season that came when everything he trusted failed at once, his plans, strength, and everything you could imagine, were not working any longer.
As he struggled to put things together, he got tired, became very exhausted and decided to return to being vulnerable with the Lord. He surrendered everything to God and told Him how much he needs Him in his own life. It was in that low place he discovered that God had always been nearer than he could ever have imagined. What God did was to break him, not to destroy him, but to open him and make him finer and smoother.
Brokenness is one of the most misunderstood dealings of God. Many feel once they are going through that season when they are being broken that they were being shamed or punished. No. What happens in the Kingdom is that brokenness is actually a doorway to life.
God does not break us to reduce us, He breaks us to release what self has restrained, because the truth is that self thrives on the mindset of independence, confidence in ability, and preservation of image but brokenness was made, especially for the believer, to dismantle these illusions, bringing us to the end of ourselves, where dependence on God is no longer theoretical but necessary.
Until self is broken, Christ’s life remains partially expressed.
God dwells with the broken and contrite, not with those who appear strong, but with those who know that they are weak.
Brokenness softens your heart, sharpens your spiritual sensitivity, and makes room for grace because it is in broken vessels that divine life flows most purely.
Brokenness is not the end of usefulness but the beginning of fruitfulness.
Practical Application
Today, instead of resisting the painful or humbling season you are in, intentionally invite God to use the season to soften your heart and deepen your dependence on Him.
Confession
I embrace the work of God in breaking self within me. I do not resist His dealings, knowing they are producing life. I release pride, self-reliance, and the need to appear strong. I welcome humility, dependence, and the shaping hand of God. Through brokenness, the life of Christ flows freely through me.
Related Scriptures: Psalm 34:18, Psalm 51:17, Isaiah 57:15, 2 Corinthians 12:9–10, John 6:51, Matthew 26:26
Weekly Bible Reading: Genesis 3
