Spiritual brokenness

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BROKENNESS is an important Christian virtue. It is manifested as a disposition that acknowledges the weakness or true state of man and accepts God’s grace and strength. It is the practice of dying to self as the key to spiritual fruitfulness. Though it sounds like a sign of weakness, brokenness is actually a sign of strength and maturity. It is not accepting defeat, but resting on the wings of divine grace for victory. Hence, Psalm 34: 18 says,

Psalm 34: 18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Genuine spiritual brokenness facilitates or produces different experiences in our spiritual growth. We will be considering seven of them in the course of this series. The first one that we shall consider is True Repentance.

The first and the second king of Israel were so great that they can never be forgotten easily. Saul and David had few things in common, but the major one among these few is the fact that they both committed sin while they were on the throne. However, the way each one responded to God’s rebuke after falling was a major difference between them. Saul was trying to protect his public image and the integrity of his throne. He was proud and unbroken. David on the other hand was after the restoration of his relationship with God. He was humble and broken before God. He wrote a whole psalm (Psalm 51, amongst others) to express his genuine repentance.

God Himself testified about David (before he became king) that he was a man after His heart (Acts 13:22). Nevertheless, David sinned. This implies that anyone who thinks he stands should be careful, so that he will not fall into sin. Another angle to look at this is the fact that, no matter how terrible our sins, if we repent genuinely, God will forgive us. This is not a license to sin because the Word of God says sin shall not have dominion over us (Romans 6:14).

No Christian will make a habit of sin if they truly understand the consequences of their sin. Though David repented after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband, the impacts of his sin on his family were grievous. His son raped his half-sister, then that son too was killed by his half-brother who also died in an attempt to usurp his father’s throne. God is highly disappointed when we His children (Christians) commit sin. Imagine how God would have felt if Job sinned after God had boasted of him (Job 1: 8). If David was conscious of how his sins that started with pornography would affect his relationship with God, his family, and his image, perhaps he would not have gone all the way.

We should stay away from sin, and break away from every addiction. And if we erroneously commit any sin, we should promptly repent and seek God’s forgiveness. God cannot reject a heart that genuinely repents (John 6: 37).