Brokenness...

"The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God." ~Psalm 51:17

"Have mercy on me, O God, because of Your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against You, and You alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in Your sight. You will be proved right in what You say, and Your judgment against me will prove just." ~Psalm 51:1-4

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Brokenness itself can be a divine moment with God. Brokenness comes most often through circumstances that overwhelm you or sin that reduces you to the point where you realize that the only way out of your mess is by God's help. It is a feeling of hitting bottom and realizing your complete dependence on God. Brokenness also comes as you grow in the awareness of God's holiness in contrast to your own sinfulness. It signifies the breaking point of your pride and self-sufficiency and becomes a turning point in your life. It is the moment when you release control of your life into God's loving hands. When you are brokenhearted about sin in your life, God promises to draw close to you, heal your self-inflicted wounds, and restore you to Himself.

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Divine Promise
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues
those whose spirits are crushed." ~Psalm 34:18

So I read this in a book a friend just gave my brother and it set me to thinking. I was thinking about this, and thinking about how much brokenness it might take for me to truly be broken. How often do we, I, reach a point of brokenness which is only a beginning point in God's process, but in my pride I say "This is it! God is breaking me! I am being humble and now I am being restored!" How often I think of what God should give me, do for me, show me, because somehow I claim to deserve it. Yet I do not remember that though I have access to His Presence as Christ did it is only because of what Christ did. What have I that is of any worth to lay at His feet and say this is my reason for doing things my way? Nothing. The only thing I can lay at His feet is my sin and pride and transgression, and there is no reason in the world that I could have to ask Him to place any value in that when He has already told me that it is foul and abhorrent to Him. Every time I grow, through God's work in me...not my own, He gives me just a glimpse of how much more He is that I have absolutely nothing to compare to. His is everything and I am nothing. He is everything to me, everything that I can never be. And yet, with sorrow and patience, He will again and again reach down and extend His hand to me to pick me up and draw me back to Him. How amazing is His love, even when He is breaking me.