Got Brokenness?

(photo courtesy of walkingthroughthevalley.com)

Apparently it’s true that one man’s junk is another Man’s treasure. God loves broken vessels. To some, that would make Him a junk collector, but others say God doesn’t make junk.

His Word tells us so much about this “broken vessel collector”….

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. – Psalm 34:18 (KJV)

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. – Psalm 147:3 (KJV)

But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. – Isaiah 64:8 (KJV)

When God made us, He created us in His own image, with no need of fixing. Over time, we’re the ones who mess things up. We become those broken vessels through time and the trials of life. Both what we do, and what’s done to us create fissures in the finish of the vessel of life we’re created to be. Over time, those fine lines and deep cracks bring us to a breaking point, a place where we can crumble as waste and blow away, or where we can crumble at His feet and allow Him to pick up us a create in us a new heart – one that mirrors His.

In the 18th chapter of Jeremiah we read a story liking God’s working in our lives with that of a potter at his wheel, redefining or totally recreating each vessel that becomes flawed.

There are fancy delicate vessels, created to hold but one flower or sturdier ones made to hold a huge bouquet. There are vessels that hold wonderful foods, whether to cook in or eat from! There are vessels that hold garbage, and those that are specifically made to hold our waste. He created each of us with a specific purpose. I often wonder what kind of vessel God created me to be, as well as what kind of vessel He sees me fit to be as I am now.

No matter my condition, God is willing and able, even eager, to mend me or recreate in me a new heart, I pray for one like His own.

Our pastor says, jokingly, something to the effect of, “We’re an exclusive club; you can’t get in if your heart hasn’t been broken…”

I’ve never seen anyone that didn’t meet the requirements.

What can He make from your brokenness?

And when he[Jesus] had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he, [Jesus] closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. – Luke 4:18-20 (KJV)