True Brokenness

True brokenness is when God brings us to the end of ourselves . . . that we might learn to more fully lean on Him! Often this comes through very difficult circumstances that “break” us of self-dependence . . . that we might depend more fully on God. The circumstances are showing us how weak we really are, and how little we are in control of the universe.

The Apostle Paul experienced this through his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). He asked God to remove his thorn, and God said “NO,” so that he might experience spiritual strength through human weakness.

One thing I have often seen, particularly in men, is that God will bring them to brokenness, but once the circumstances start getting better they go back to pride and self-reliance. Therefore, I believe God wants our brokenness to be much more than just circumstantial brokenness. Instead, He wants us to live in constant brokenness.

Constant brokenness is when we are constantly aware of our weaknesses, human limitations, and propensity toward sin that we walk in constant awareness of our desperate need for God. Even when the initial circumstantial difficulty is lifted, we still walk in brokenness. Less in less do we need circumstantial difficulty to make us dependent on God’s power.

However, when the circumstantial difficulty does come our way, by the sovereign decree of God, then we will be able to say with Paul, “That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).