May 23, 2013 … Change From Brokenness

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 143

Passage of the Day: Genesis 32: 24-25 [NLT] …  
24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a Man came and wrestled with him until dawn. 25 When the Man saw that He couldn’t win the match, He struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. 
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 Contextual Study for today’s passage: Genesis, Chapter 32 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: Proverbs 3: 5-6 : [And sometimes learning to trust God means a wrestling match.] …[NKJV] …  
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on our own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

Reference Passage #1: 2nd Corinthians 12: 8-9 : [Our brokenness can allow for us to receive God’s transforming, sanctifying grace.] …[NLT] …  
8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it [the debilitating thorn] away. 9 Each time He said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me.

My Journal for Today: Sometimes God has to allow for our brokenness in order for Him to make us over into the man [or woman] we need to become in His image. Today Os Hillman continues his illustrative use of God’s son, Jacob, who went from a self-indulgent con-man to a broken and willing leader of God’s people. But note how much it took, with years of trial and tribulation, and ultimately a wrestling match with an Angel of God (who just might have been Jesus Himself), with God needing to break him down physically and emotionally so that God could reshape Jacob into “Israel,” a new man. who could be used by God for God’s purposes and not the man who previously was a man who would do life in his own way and for his own purposes.

How often do I end up quoting Proverbs 3: 5-6 as a reference passage in my devotionals here; and I do so because learning to trust God and follow God completely and unselfishly, sometimes take God to allow Satan to buffet us or break us down, maybe physically or emotionally (or both). so that we can recognize how much we need God’s sanctifying and transforming grace to reshape us into the person God can use for His glory. Not only did Jacob have to wrestle and be broken by God to be transformed from “Jacob” to “Israel,” the Apostle Paul also had to go through in that great scenario in 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 12 where God had to allow Satan to give Paul some “thorn,” which ultimately Paul recognized was necessary for Paul to be able to be humbled enough to receive God’s power to cover his weakness. Why so often does God have to break us down before He builds us up into His own image?

What has God needed to do … or what is He doing now … to break your selfish nature down so that you can recognize your need to trust God completely and for you to recognize your need to receive His transforming and empowering grace? Sometimes it may take a wrestling match, producing a lot of pain in your life; but whatever it takes, it’s worth it … to recognize, in our brokenness, that we need and can receive God’s enabling and transforming grace.

My Prayer for Today … Oh, my Lord, pour your grace into this broken carcass, so that I can become the man You need for me to be. … Amen