Brokeness Before God

For thousands of years, there has been an on-going desire to be close to God. Looking back in both the Old and New Testaments, we see examples of people wanting to know God on a different level than they ever had before. Moses wanted to see God's face. James and John wanted to be close to Jesus and sit beside Him on the throne. And countless other people from times past even til today have desired to know God, to intimately know their Creator. And yet there have been few who have ever know Him that way, few who ever experience the relationship with God that they want and He so desperately wants to give them. And I believe it has much to do with the way we position ourselves. What I mean by that is this: in order to be intimate with God you have to be willing to be broken. Let me unpack that for a minute. Natural instinct is to avoid pain and trouble as much as is humanly possible. The reality is that none of us have a desire to suffer, to hurt, to be vulnerable. And so we do everything in our power to avoid those moments. And when they do occur, we try as hard as we can to find a way to fix them as fast as we can. But that's where I think we miss it. Instead of trying to find a way out, we should come to God, broken, and experience the intimate moment with the Savior. David, at one of the most broken and vulnerable times in his life, penned these words: "a broken and a contrite heart, O God You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). The posture of intimacy with God is brokenness. And this is true not just in the moments of difficulty. This is also in those moments when everything is going great and we're on top of the world. God will draw close to us when we present ourselves as broken vessels before Him, no matter our circumstances. But how exactly do we do that? We present ourselves broken before God when we empty out all of the sin that separates us from Him, when we get rid of the stuff that competes for His time, when we are moved with compassion for the afflicted and abused, and when we serve others with His purpose in mind. When we're broken, poured out, emptied of the things that we think are so important to hold on to, then something amazing happens. God draws us closer to Himself, like a father sheltering his child from the storm. And it's in these moments when regardless of the chaos going on, the turmoil in our lives, we hear God whisper words we weren't able to hear before. Words that seem too glorious, too powerful, too awe-inspiring to even know. And it's here, in this state of brokenness, that God reveals His glory, His strength, His mercy. And it's amazing to think that this experience isn't reserved for the elite. It is available to all of us. And all we have to do is be broken.

What are your thoughts?

How have you experienced God in the broken moments?

A Committment

Every new year brings much of the same: resolutions, promises to do better, determination to break old habits or lose that last 10 (or 40) pounds that magically appeared over the last year. And every year, these promises seem to go unfulfilled. Whether it is a lack of determination or the busy-ness of life is debatable. But the fact remains that many resolutions go unresolved. I have made my fair share of these resolutions over the years, and like many people, I have let them falter and fail, never reaching the end of what I started out so excited to do. Enter this blog. I started writing this blog about a year and a half ago, and it's been almost that long since I wrote anything on it. I loved it to begin with. I finally had somewhere to write down my thoughts and have other people see what was going on inside my head. And that is huge to me. I have an English degree and writing has always been a passion of mine. But as the days moved on, I convinced myself I was too busy to write, had too much to do, and sort of gave up on the idea of a blog. But this year, I believe things are going to be different. I still have just as much to do, just as many things going on in my life, but I am making it a priority to write on my blog. Maybe it will be a few sentences a day. Maybe it will be a few entries a week. I'm not sure how it will happen, but I am determined to stay committed to this. I plan on seeing this resolution through to the end.