“Broken”
Ps. 51 : 17, 34 : 18, 69 : 20, & Prov. 17 : 22
Many times we talk about being hurt and broken, we believe the saying that time heals all wounds, we believe that a few comforting words, a little sympathy will make everything alright, and we don’t understand when people don’t seem to bounce back from something the way we think they should or as soon as we think they should. We believe that time should have healed their hurt by now, but what we fail to understand is that there is a difference between being hurt and being broken. Since we don’t understand that we cast judgment on them and say things like they just need to get saved or let it go, because we never really understand the difference between being hurt and being broken.
Children are growing up in a society that has pushed them aside, cast them off, and rejected them as normal, acceptable, and viable members of the social order, they have even classified them as being called “Generation X” the unknown. They are becoming adults that have no direction in their lives, wondering aimlessly, bound, confused, and perplexed. Some have been mentally, physically, and sexually abused. Feeling rejected, dejected, and alone, they are hopelessly waiting to die, imagining that everything will be over if what they have experienced to be life would just cease from being.
Many people in society are being incarcerated mentally, physically, and spiritually. Although free from the human judicial system, are regretfully imprisoned in a far more cruel and ultimately eternal prison. They are sentenced with a life sentence of emotional emasculation, depression, anxiety, low/no self esteem, and phobia’s; some are on the habitual death row of deadly narcotics, alcohol, careless, unsafe, and uninhibited sexual activity. Others have been placed in a solitary confinement of physical pain, discomfort, and disease. They are being held captive behind these seemingly impenetrable bars and inescapable walls, being made to believe that this is all there is to life. Mentally messed up, emotionally emasculated, and spiritually lost, they are aimlessly wandering through life busted, disgusted, and broken.
Their lives are shattered, their dreams are non-existent, their hope is gone, they are being battered by the angry sea of sin, tossed to and fro, bouncing from relationship to relationship, being drug down through the gutters of degradation. Their self respect has been broken, their esteem has been broken, their reputation has been broken, their innocence has been broken.
They are disappointedly unable to see that God has a far more excellent and abundant life. They are struggling trying to break free unable to come into the freedom that is promised to them. They are unable to understand that the price of their freedom has already been paid, they don’t have to remain in a broken condition, their shattered lives can be put back together, they can have life and have it more abundantly all they have to do is COME and let Jesus put the broken pieces of their lives back together again.
Anybody ever been broken?
According to the dictionary:
Hurt is : to affect adversely, to injure, and to feel pain, to become damaged or harmed.
Broken: comes from a Hebrew word called SHABAR : it means to crush into pieces, shattered, bruised, violated, not functioning properly, disconnected, overwhelmed with sorrow, raped, plundered, maltreated, desecrated.
A Hurt is heartbreak, such as you and so-n-so have been dating for a while and for some reason you break up it’s a heartbreak, it hurt you, it will make you cry, loose a night or two of sleep. Hurt may cause you to miss a meal or two, when you are hurt you can still come to church, smile enough that sykes everyone out, you can still testify, sing, and say Praise the Lord and pretend that everything is alright, you can fake it until you make it, you understand that in time the hurt will heal, the pain will go away, after some comforting words and shows of compassion you’ll be alright. When you are hurt you can say the scripture that says, “Weeping May endureth for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Broken is more than a heartbreak, but it is a broken heart, a heartbreak will cause you to cry, but a broken heart can cause you to die. When you are broken you begin to develop illnesses that you never had before, you begin to worry and have anxiety, fretfulness develops, bad tempers are ever present, hatred and malice start to rule you, you begin to feel hopeless and helpless, you begin to think that you are no-more of any good, Why because you have been broken. You have been raped by the devil, I’m not talking about raped like you may be thinking about, forced to have sexual intercourse, I’m talking about raped, beaten, abused, used, mistreated, desecrated, plundered, R.A.P.E.D. repeatedly abused, plundered, emasculated, and desecrated by the devil way down deep in your spirit, in your bowels of compassion, not just your feelings have been hurt but you have been broken, you are not functioning properly, sorrow has set in deep,
You’ve been crushed.
When you have been broken the scripture that you find yourself so often saying is not “Weeping May endureth …”, but “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me” I’ve been broken, a little time or shows of compassion will not fix it. I am no longer the same, I have gone through some mess, I’ve been repeatedly abused, emotionally, spiritually, and physically, I’ve been plundered, everything good in my life has been taken by force, I’ve been emasculated, I’ve been desecrated I am no good for Holy use.
Anybody know what I’m talking about?
There is not anyone here I believe that has at some point in there life dropped a cup or a vase and a piece of it chips off, you get out the super glue and glue the piece back in and after a little time you can’t hardly even tell that the cup or vase was even damaged, you can continue to use it for whatever reason you used it for in the first place, it will hold water coffee or what ever you put into it, it was damaged, hurt, but it’s o.k. Now.
If you broke it, you shattered it into a lot of little pieces, there is no way that you can put it back together again, because some of the pieces you are unable to find, and even if you try to put it back the pieces don’t fit together properly, they may look like they belong together, but once you put it back together you find out that it’s not in the proper place.
I don’t care how much super glue and duct tape you use you can tell that it has been broken, time doesn’t make it as strong as it once was, it can’t hold water or anything in it anymore, you put water in it and the water begins to come out from all of the little places that you were not able to fix, if you try to fill it with dirt like a flower pot it can’t handle the pressure so it just shatters again because it hold up under the strain, why because it has been broken not just hurt or damaged, but it’s been shattered right down to the very essence of what it once was.
I’m not talking to the ones that have experienced a little hurt in ther life, but I’m talking to the ones that have been broken, shattered, repeatedly abused, plundered, emasculated, and desecrated by the devil, every fiber of what you once were has been stepped on and abused by the devil and the sin that you have done in your life.
When you have been broken your self esteem is non-existent, your will and desire, if you have any at all, begin to diminish, you don’t (like the song says) feel like going on, but you want to give up, you have been broken, your weary, struggling to hold what little dignity you have left together, you feel like you are about to loose your mind.
You begin to feel lonely and become all alone not of your own free will but like the Bible says in Psalms 69:20 “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” The reason why you can’t find them is when your spirit has been broken you don’t have joy, you don’t have peace, you are not happy and the people you are use to being around begin to say “I can’t stand to be around you anymore you are bringing me down”, now on top of being hurt you begin to feel unloved, like a cast-a-way, that you no-longer fit in with the click (yes we have clicks in the church) so you begin to separate yourself which is extremely dangerous, because you are now were the devil wants you to be, he understands that where there is unity there is strength, (example: when we are together I have your back and you have mine the devil can’t come in a just run over us, why because we are united), but if he separates you and gets you alone he can devour you (example: when you separate yourself you leave yourself open to whatever the devil wants to do). When you separate yourself you begin to listen to the voice inside, to those that have ever been broken you know the one, it says you see no-one cares, you are all alone, no-one even notices the pain that you are feeling, they will not even notice you if your gone so go ahead and end it all right now, you have been broken and are no more any good. This is the reason that our suicide rate among our young people is so high because the devil causes them to separate themselves from the strength of unity and he devours them.
The Bible says in Proverbs 17:22 “…a broken spirit drieth the bones” why because when you have been broken, devastated, repeatedly abused, plundered, emasculated, and desecrated down in your soul, in your spirit you begin to feel what’s the use, I’m no more any good, I don’t feel like going on, I’m good for nothing now because I have been broken but I find in the Bible, Psalms 51:17 to be exact it says “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Your spirit is heavy, but I read in the Bible and it says that God will give you a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness all you have to do is give it to the Lord, it’s to big for you to handle yourself, it’s to heavy for you, but if you give it to the Lord, He will give you praise a broken heart and a contrite spirit He will not despise.
You gotta become a sacrifice unto the Lord. The word Sacrifice comes from a Hebrew word called “QORBAN” it means to present. A sacrifice was a total commitment; every part of the animal was given in a sacrifice. A sacrifice is the surrender or destruction of something valued for the sake of something else
The word Contrite comes from a Hebrew word called “DAKA” it means maimed, dejected, humbled, and broken down.
That’s me I have a broken spirit and a broken heart. You may even get more discouraged because you haven’t fully understood what he is saying, but I find in the Bible he said in Psalms 34:18 “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth them such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Understanding this, understanding that a contrite spirit means to be broken, dejected.
The word sacrifice means to present a total commitment. A surrender or destruction of something valued for the sake of something else and he said he will not despise, which means he will not cast you out, leave you alone, I’m standing here broken down shattered into many pieces, I feel as if I am of no more earthly good, so Lord I am presenting myself to you that you may be able to use me I don’t know what you can do with me because I’m broken, I’m a shattered mess, pieces are missing, but here I am Lord.
When you present yourself to him as a broken vessel, What he does is he takes the pieces and begins to put the pieces back together in the proper places and fills the cracks not with super glue, but with his agape love, Agape is God’s love for man. Agape is not predicated on our goodness, but is solely based on the strength of God. God says I love you even though you are incapable of loving me back; I love you just because you are there. Our love, carnal love is predicated on what I can get. This is called Eros.
God fills the cracks and begins to put the pieces back together and unlike super glue that may or may not hold God fills you and gives you a new clean heart and restores onto you the joy that you once had then he begins the restoration process. With the hyssop of his blood he begins to rub out all the ruff edges, he buffs and polishes you up, he proves you worthy and fills you with his precious Holy Ghost, this is called The refining process.
: > To refine silver or gold is to hold a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. In refining silver or gold, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. God is holding us in the middle of the hot spots in life to season us. The whole time the silver or gold is in the fire the refiner has to sit in front of the fire the whole time the silver or gold is being refined. The refiner, he not only has to sit there holding the silver, but he has to keep his eyes on the silver or gold the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver or gold were left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. No matter how long it seems you have been in the fire, God knows and will not leave you in there to long. He is refining and seasoning you. The question is, "How do you know when the silver or gold is fully refined?" The answer is when I see my image in it." God will send us through the refining fires until he is able to see His image in us.
Once you have been refined, after He has rubbed all the rough spots off of you, after you have gone through the fire after the shattered pieces of your once broken life have been put back together, after you have had a internal transformation, after He has grinded away at all the negative in your life he presents Þ you and you come forth as pure Gold.
You can’t even tell that you had been broken before, your not even the same vessel anymore, why because he said in his word if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away and behold all things become new. You have been transformed.
You were once a shattered mess, broken in many pieces, not good for anything, but now you have been fixed, you’re a new creature, you realize that after all you’ve been through you’re still alive. You have undergone a great transformation. The word transformation is: the operation of changing one configuration or expression into another: (I was sad, but now I am happy) a change of variables or coordinates in which a function of new variables or coordinates is substituted for each original variable or coordinate (I was on my way to hell, but I have had a transformation and I am on my way to HEAVEN): a genetic modification of a bacterium by incorporation of free DNA from another ruptured bacterial cell: genetic modification of a cell by the uptake and incorporation of exogenous DNA (Because of His nail scared hands and feet, because of the crown of thorns on His head, because of the wound in His side He became ruptured and my soul has incorporated His DNA and I have undergone a genetic modification. In other words old things are passed away and behold all things have become new.). The bible says in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed (undergo a spiritually chemical transformation) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
After you have gone through his restoration process and you realize that after being broken, shattered, raped, abused that you are still alive then you can say like the song writer “After all I’ve been through I still have Joy.” I was broken, I’ve been through the storm, my friends forsook me, the devil tried to destroy me, but after all of this God put the pieces back together and I still have joy. I’m like Patty Labelle I have a new walk, a new talk, a new point of view, I have a new attitude WHY because Jesus put the broken pieces of my life back together.
Now I can look back at the devil and say I once was broken but now God has put the pieces back together so devil
“HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW”. Old things are passed away and behold all things have become new.
I am still alive and I still have joy I can say this scripture and since I’m still alive I can say this scripture.
“O magnify the Lord with me let us exalt his name together”!!!!!
Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
Boanerge Ministries
