Recently, I came across an interesting set of statistics on sanity. According to the study, one out of every four Americans is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Now, think of your three best friends. If they’re okay, then it’s probably you. (Rita Mae Brown, Church Champions Update, 11-26-01; www.PreachingToday.com)
Truth be told, ALL of us are broken in some way. It’s just that only a few of us are willing to admit it. Many of us wear masks that hide our brokenness, hoping nobody else will notice. We pay attention to outward appearances, hoping nobody really sees what’s on the inside, but that only keeps us from experiencing true happiness and joy.
There is real blessing in brokenness, if we can just admit we’re broken. You say, “Phil, what possible blessing can come from my brokenness? What can be the good that comes from acknowledging the hurt, the pain, and the darkness in my own soul?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 32, Genesis 32, where we see what happened to Jacob when he finally came to a place of brokenness in his own life.
Genesis 32:22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. (NIV)
Jacob is about to enter the land God promised him and his descendants. It is the land of blessing.
Genesis 32:23-24 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. (NIV)
In the original Hebrew, there is a play on words going on here that is quite significant. You see, before ya’aqob (Jacob) could cross the yaboq (Jabbok) into the land of blessing, he had to ye’abeq (wrestle) with somebody. There was no blessing without some agony and tears.
Genesis 32:25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. (NIV)
Up until now, Jacob has been a good fighter. He fought with his brother, Esau, winning a birthright and a blessing. He fought with his uncle, Laban, winning a great amount of wealth. Now he fights a “man” he cannot defeat, a “man” who cripples him in the strongest part of his body.
An old doctor once said, “The hip muscle is the strongest muscle in the human body, a muscle that a horse could scarcely tear apart.” Yet this “man” with one touch pulled Jacob’s hip out of joint, and Jacob is now forever broken in the area of his greatest strength.
By now, we know that this is no ordinary “man.” This is a Supernatural Being, much stronger than Jacob. In fact, this is God Himself, who breaks Jacob down in the area of his self-confidence and his self-sufficiency.
You see, there is no blessing without such a breaking, and if we want that blessing, we must…
LET GOD BREAK US OF OUR SELF-SUFFICIENCY.
We must let God break us of our self-confidence. We must let God break us in those areas where we think we’re the strongest before He can make us truly strong in Him.
Chuck Swindoll once said, “When God wants to use a man greatly, He must first hurt him deeply.” Let me say it again, “When God wants to use a man greatly, He must first hurt him deeply.”
When I first heard that as a student in seminary preparing for ministry, I have to admit I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t want to be hurt. I didn’t want to be broken before God could use me in any significant way. But since then, I have discovered that it is very true. Oh the times of brokenness and hurt Sandy and I have experienced over more than 25 years in ministry. But those times of brokenness have always been followed by times of rich blessing in ministry.
And that has been true of all of God’s servants throughout history. Before God used Moses to deliver His people out of Egypt, God had to put him on the back side of the desert taking care of sheep for 40 years. Before God used Isaiah, one of Israel’s greatest prophets, He had to bring Isaiah to the point where he cried out, “Woe is me!” in Isaiah 6. Before God used the great Apostle Paul in the New Testament, he had to give him a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from becoming conceited (1 Corinthians 12:7). In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore,” Paul says, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (1 Corinthians 12:8-9). Even Christ’s body had to be broken on the cross before the blessing of His salvation could come to a broken world.
Vance Havner once said, “God uses broken things. Broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.” (Vance Havner, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com)
Are you broken today? Then come to God and let Him turn your brokenness into a blessing not only for yourself, but for those around you. For God uses broken things more than any other thing. In fact, God must break us of our self-sufficiency before He can bless us and make us a blessing to others.
Tri Robinson, in his book Rooted in Good Soil, shares his testimony of how he came to faith in Christ and the effect it had on his family. His wife, Nancy, had been praying desperately for years that he would come to Christ and become the spiritual leader in their home. But when he did, after some initial excitement, her joy soon turned to anger. The change was hard for her, and her husband couldn’t understand what was happening. Tri says, “I remember wondering if receiving the Lord was such a good idea. I started to question everything about faith and this stimulated real and honest prayer – for the first time in my life.”
Then, one Sunday after church, everything came to a head. Their younger daughter, Katie, had gone to the home of some friends. The rest of the family headed home for lunch, and their three-year-old son, Brook, went down for a nap. Tri and Nancy had just met a new older couple at church that morning and had invited them to drop by later that day. Everything seemed fine until something snapped, and they began to fight. All at once everything came out – all of Nancy’s anger and all of Tri’s frustration erupted, causing Nancy to pick up a pottery mug and hurl it at him across the room. Tri was able to duck quickly, so the mug missed him and smashed through the window of the front door.
At that very moment, the couple they had invited from church arrived, and they were walking up the front steps. They ducked and evaded the flying mug but decided it was not the best time to visit the Robinsons. They turned on their heels and headed for their car.
Tri says, “I was embarrassed and humiliated, and I lost it like I have never lost it before or since.” He started yelling and hitting walls and cupboards. Framed pictures and dishes fell to the floor. He went from room to room turning over furniture and shouting in complete frustration. “No matter how hard I tried,” he said, “I couldn’t make Nancy satisfied with our life, and I didn’t know what I could do about it.” The realization caused him to fall apart.
Tri says, “All my life I had prided myself on being composed and put together; I always felt that showing emotion was a sign of weakness.” Well, that day God tore down everything he leaned on for strength (like He did when he touched Jacob’s thigh). As Tri surveyed the aftermath of his rage, he saw his three-year-old son staring at him with huge, frightened eyes. Tri says, “I will never forget how he looked as he stood there in shock and disbelief.”
“That’s when it happened,” Tri says. “That’s when I finally broke. My deep frustration turned to tears, and the floodgates opened. I started to weep in a way I never had before. Tears welled up from the depths of my being, and my entire body started to convulse. I cried and cried and couldn’t stop the tears. I cried for a whole life of pain and frustration, most of which Nancy had nothing to do with. I was broken in a way I can’t fully express, but it was a brokenness that forever changed me.” Tri held his son and Nancy held him, and together they cried and prayed. They repented for the way they had treated each other and together asked God to take control of their lives.
It was a divine moment in their marriage and in their life with God. “It was a turning point,” Tri says, “more powerful than any other I have ever experienced… Not only did my relationship with God heal,” he says, “my relationship with my wife changed as well. I could now love because I had come into the assurance that I was first loved.” (Tri Robinson, Rooted in Good Soil, Baker, 2010, pp. 38-40; www.PreachingToday.com)
But Tri had to be broken first. He had to let God break him of his self-confidence before there was any real healing in his marriage.
Dear friends, too many people live on in their misery, because they refuse to let God break them. They continue on in their stubborn self-confidence, insisting that there is nothing really wrong with them when everybody else knows there is. As a result, they are miserable people, making everyone else around them miserable.
Please, don’t be that kind of a person. Please, let God break you of your stubborn pride. For the Bible says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
Dear friends, if we want to be blessed and be a blessing to others, we must let God break us of our self-sufficiency. More than that, we must…
LET GOD BREAK US OF OUR SIN.
We must let God break us with the realization that we are spiritually poor. We must let God break us with the stark awareness that we are morally bankrupt, that, at the core of our being, we are deceitful and wicked. That’s how God had to break Jacob before He could bless him. We pick up the story in verse 26
Genesis 32:26-27 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. (NIV)
Jacob means heel-grabber, usurper, deceiver. God made Jacob tell Him who he really was. God made Jacob name himself as a liar, a deceiver, and a cheat. God made Jacob admit his own sinfulness before God blessed him.
Genesis 32:28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (NIV)
God gave Jacob a new name, a new identity. He is no longer to be known as liar and deceiver – Jacob. Now, he will become known as one who struggles with God – Israel. Before, Jacob fought against God. Now, God fights for Israel. God gave Jacob a new name, and God gave Jacob a new relationship with Himself.
Genesis 32:29-30 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (NIV)
Peniel means “the face of God.” God allowed Jacob to wrestle with Him, to come face-to-face with Him, to be real with Him, to struggle honestly before Him, and he didn’t die. Instead, Jacob experienced grace. Jacob was blessed instead of being cursed like he deserved. God gave him a new name, a new identity. God gave him a new relationship with Himself, and God gave him a new reputation.
Genesis 32:31-32 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon. (NIV)
The sun rose on Jacob that day, both literally and figuratively. It rose in the sky, but it also rose in Jacob’s heart. His despair is turned to joy, and forever God’s people remember what God did for him that day. Jacob was blessed, but only after he was broken of his sin.
And that’s what we must allow God to do for us, if we want to be blessed as well. We must allow God to break us of our sin. We must tell Him who and what we really are – liars, deceivers, sinners – before He will give us a new identity, a new relationship with Himself, and a new reputation.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT, for theirs IS the kingdom of Heaven” – present tense (Matthew 5:3). In other words, only those who admit their own spiritual poverty can enjoy the blessings of Heaven starting right now on earth. On the other hand, those who continue on in their own sense of self-righteousness never experience that blessing.
Philip Yancey, in his book, What Good Is God, writes about being invited to speak at a conference on ministry to women in prostitution. After some discussion with his wife, Yancey agreed to accept the invitation as long as he could have the opportunity to question the women and hear their stories.
At the end of the conference Yancey said to the women, “Did you know that Jesus referred to your profession? Let me read you what he said: ‘I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.’ He was speaking to the religious authorities of his day,” Yancey said. Then he asked them, “What do you think Jesus meant? Why did he single out prostitutes?”
After several minutes of silence a young woman from Eastern Europe spoke up in her broken English. “Everyone, she has someone to look down on. Not us. We are at the low. Our families, they feel shame for us. No mother nowhere looks at her little girl and says, ‘Honey, when you grow up I want you be good prostitute.’ Most places, we are breaking the law. Believe me, we know how people feel about us. People call us names: whore, slut, hooker, harlot. We feel it too. We are the bottom. And sometimes when you are at the low, you cry for help. So when Jesus comes, we respond. Maybe Jesus meant that.” Philip Yancey, What Good Is God? p. 75; www.PreachingToday.com)
It is not the self-righteous who find the kingdom of God. It is only those who know their need and admit their sin. You see, Jesus came to die for sinners, not for the self-righteous. So admit your sin and find a new life in Him. Find a new name, new relationships, and a new reputation just like Jacob did when he admitted his sinfulness.
This is true not only for unbelievers, but for us as believers as well. We too must be honest with God and admit our sin if we’re going to be blessed and be a blessing to others. The Apostle John wrote these words to his brothers in Christ, his fellow believers: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).
Do we want a new life, a new church, a new community? It starts when we confess that we are tired of the old one. It starts when we confess that the old one is wicked and wrong.
If we want to be truly blessed and be a blessing to others, we must let God break us of our self-sufficiency, and we must let God break us of our sin.
I close with these words from Anne Ortlund. They are her comments about the time when Jesus was “reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper.” There, according to Mark 14, “a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head” (Mark 14:3).
Here is what Anne Ortlund had to say about that by way of application: “Christians file into church on a Sunday morning. One by one by one they march in – like separate alabaster vases: contained, self-sufficient, encased, individually complete, contents undisclosed, no perfume emitting at all.
“There vases aren’t bad looking. In fact, some of them are the Beautiful People, and they become Vase-Conscious: conscious of their own vase and of one another’s. They are aware of clothes, of personalities, of position in this world – of exteriors.
“So before and after church (and maybe during) they’re apt to talk Vase talk.
“Mary broke her vase. Broke it?! How shocking. How controversial. Was everybody doing it? Was it a vase breaking party? No, she just did it all by herself. What happened then? The obvious: all the contents were forever released. She could never hug her precious nard to herself again.
“Many bodies who file into church, no doubt, do so because they have Jesus inside of them. Jesus! – precious, exciting, life giving. But most of them keep Him shut up, contained, enclosed all their lives. And the air is full of NOTHING. They come to church and sit – these long rows of cold, beautiful, alabaster vases! Then the cold, beautiful, alabaster vases get up and march out again, silently – or maybe talking their cold alabaster talk – to repeat the ritual week after week, year after year. Unless they just get too bored and quit.
“The need for Christians everywhere (nobody is exempt) is to be broken. The vase has to be smashed! Christians have to let the life out! It will fill the room with sweetness. And the congregation will all be broken shards, mingling together for the first time.
“Of course, it’s awkward and scary to be broken! Of course, it’s easier to keep up the cold, alabaster front.
“It was costly for Mary too.” (Chuck Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, pp.72-73)
Who will be the first here to break their vase?
