The Baffled & Broken

It’s 6:00pm and I’m sitting on the couch thinking that the leftover chocolate pudding in the fridge would make a pretty good substitution for supper tonight.  After I finish this blog, of course. 

I love the Lord.  I have no doubt that He is working for my best.  I am confident that He is weaving a story in this world and in my life that is so far above my comprehension that it makes total sense that I should often be baffled by what He’s doing.  And am I baffled at times. 

I’ve learned that there is no part of my life that God is not jealous over, and I’ve discovered too many areas that I had thought God wouldn’t touch.  He wouldn’t go there, would He? He loves me too much to mess with that place in my heart, doesn’t He?  I felt broken.  Just when I thought I was getting a handle on one situation the rug would be pulled out from another and it felt like the wind was being knocked out of me each time.  Really, God??  And yet I felt Him, as I’ve often felt Him, pursuing me with His truth and drawing me to passages like Isaiah 10:

 

"And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth."

 

Our God never cease to care for us and He is teaching and moulding us to depend on HIM.  In our most baffled moments He is orchestrating His purpose in our lives.  Are you broken?  Good.  God uses broken things. 

 

“It was not until Moses struck the rock at Horeb, breaking its surface, that cool “water [came] out of it for the people to drink.” (Ex. 17:6)  It was not until Gideon’s three hundred specially chosen soldiers “broke the jars that were in their hands” (Judg. 7:19), which symbolized brokenness in their lives, that the hidden light of the torches shone forth, bringing terror to their enemies.  It was once the poor widow broke the seal on her only remaining jar of oil and began to pour it that God miraculously multiplied it to pay her debts and thereby supplied her means of support. (See 2 Kings 4:1-7.) …It was once Jesus took “the five loaves…and broke them” (Luke 9:16) that the bread was multiplied to feed the five thousand.  Through the very process of the loaves being broken, the miracle occurred. It was when Mary broke her beautiful “alabaster jar of very expensive perfume” (Matt. 26:7), destroying its future usefulness and value, that the wonderful fragrance filled the house.  And it was when Jesus allowed His precious body to be broken by thorns, nails, and a spear that His inner life was poured out like an ocean of crystal-clear water, for thirsty sinners to drink and then live.”  ~ Streams in the Desert

 

Paraphrased from the same devotional:

“God uses most for His glory those people and things which are most perfectly broken...Those who are broken in wealth, and broken in self-will, and broken in their ambitions, and broken in their lofty ideals, and broken in worldly reputation, and broken in their desires, and broken ofttimes in health...the Holy Ghost is seizing upon, and using for God's glory."

 

Are you broken?  Are you baffled?  Read what Jeremiah (9:23,24) has to say:

 

""Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let he who glories glory ("rejoice proudly") in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight," says the LORD."

God is exercising His lovingkindness on you and He is delighted about it.  Let's rejoice proudly about that!