Brokenness

Brokenness. What is it? That’s the question that’s been on my mind for the last 2 hours. It’s what I’ve been wrestling with God about for the last 5 years. Here’s what he has shown me.

Brokenness is the point at which you are so unable to stand on your own that you can do nothing other than turn to God. It is the place where everything you love, value, hold dear or even thought you wanted become absolutely pointless. It is the point at which you choose to do things God’s way. It is the point at which you hear God ask, “Do you want to be well?” John 5:1-8 says this,

 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethseda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 

 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and walked.

1) The Jewish men came to Jerusalem 3 times each year to celebrate festivals: The Feast of the Passover, The Festival of Pentecost, and The Festival of Tabernacles. 

2) As this story unfolds, we see many broken people lying next to the pool. This pool held healing powers and when the waters stirred, the first one in found healing for their need.

There were 3 types of people at the pool. 

The blind: Those who cannot see. Those who don’t want to see. Those who have lost sight of life’s purpose.

The lame: Those who cannot walk. Those who are physically ill. Those who don’t 

      know where to turn next. Those who are hurting.

The paralyzed: Those who cannot help themselves. Those who have lost hope and see no way out. Those whose  

                     circumstances feel unchangeable. 

3) One of the men had been at the pool for 38 years. On first reading this you might think. What? That’s insane. Who would stay there 38 years? Well, someone who couldn’t help himself/herself. Someone who was so broken and obviously so, but no one took time to help. 

4) Jesus approaches the pool and asks the man, “Do you want to get well?” I’m thinking, “Duh?” who wouldn’t want to be well? He’d been sick for 38 years. Do you think he really liked it? But that wasn’t the point of Jesus question. His question wasn’t a surface question. It was deeper than that. What he was asking was, “Are you ready to make a change? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get well? Are you ready to put this old life behind you and move into my glory?” This was the time the man had to think about himself. 

5) The man’s answer is simple. “There is no one to help me into the pool.” Life is too hard for any of us to handle alone. We need at least one person who is there for us. But oh how blessed are those who have many!

6) Jesus tells the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” Jesus has given the man everything he needed to take care of business. I can just see Jesus reaching out this hand to the man and pulling him up to his feet, smiling and then leading him to the pool.

This is the process of brokenness summed up in 6 words that the Spirit has spoken to my heart over the past few years. They are:

1. Appeal- Praise
2. Conceal- Our sin is hidden. Maybe we honestly don’t see it. Maybe we don’t want to see it. Or perhaps we are doing things to avoid looking at our own sin. 
3. Reveal- Our sin is pointed out to us and we get to decide whether or not we will deal with it. 
4. Deal- We wrestle with God for answers and conviction.  
5. Heal- We look at our sin and determine what steps it will take to get well. 
6. Seal- Jesus takes our hand. Guides us and says, “I’m here for you! Let’s do this together.”

Brokenness can happen time and again as we allow God to work deeper within us. God will chip away every little part of our heart. Brokenness isn’t a one time deal, it’s a continual process.

Now as for you, where are you in the process? Comment back. I’d love hear your story!