June 19, 2013 … Strength In Brokenness

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 170

Passage of the Day #1: 1st Samuel 2: 4 [From Hannah’s prayer of praise] [NLT] …  
4 Those who were mighty are mighty no more; and those who were weak are now strong.
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Contextual Study for today’s passages above: 1st Samuel, Chapter 2 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: 2nd Corinthians 12: 7-9 [Paul’s brokenness becomes his strength.] [NLT] …  
7 … even though I have received wonderful revelations from God. But to keep me from getting puffed up, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud. 8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it 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: As Os Hillman points out in his devotional entry for today, it’s one of those biblical ironies which is hard to deal with in life that there is strength in brokenness. But it’s a truth which is born out in the lives of character after character in the Bible; and I’d bet that your mind is racing ahead of me right now to document a number of those cases which illustrate what Hannah prayed about in the highlight passage for today - 1st Samuel 2: 4.

Gideon was found broken in a wine barrel by God’s Angel. Jacob was broken at Peniel in his wrestling match with God. David was broken after his sin with Bathsheba. Peter was broken after Jesus was taken prisoner. And Paul was broken, first on the Damascus road and then again when God allowed Satan to bring a physical “thorn upon Paul later in his life and ministry (see 2nd Cor. 12: 7-9 copied above).

How often we read in Scripture how God had to allow or bring serious brokenness into the life of one of His servants for God to be able to use that one mightily. And I’d bet that most – if not all – of you would agree that you’ve experienced more spiritual growth in your life from periods of brokenness than you have from being a part of some glimpse of God’s glory or a period of spiritual strength.

 So, does that mean we should pray for God to lower the hammer of His brokenness in our lives so that we can be strengthened to serve Him for His glory? Well, I don’t know about you; but I’m no spiritual masochist. I just don’t enjoy pain; and so you’re not going to find me praying very often for God to give me anguish and pain to teach me how to find His strength to cover my weakness. But I do know that in the midst of such anguish or brokenness, you will find me coming before God’s throne of grace and begging for Him to give me HIS strength to shore up my weakness.

It’s really not hard for me to be in full agreement and find application from today’s quiet time with God. I’ll leave it to you to find your own personal application. And I’m going to close here by linking you to one of my favorite Christian songs, written and sung by Steven Curtis Chapman, who was broken to the core of his being when one of his sons killed his little daughter in a horrible home accident. The song is His Strength is Perfect. 

My Prayer for Today … Abba Father, thank You for the many times You’ve given me strength to bring me to see life in Your Son out of the valleys of the shadow of death. … Amen