Day 7 - Brokenness

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

{Psalm 51:10 AMP}

Does it feel like it's coming at you from all sides lately? Yeah...I get that. It's no secret that we're living in a broken world. So far from the perfection of The Garden that all of creation is aching to be reborn. When it seems like we're all being emptied of the stuff that matters, it has me craving more of God to fill in the blank spaces of my heart.

Jesus puts it so simply in his Sermon on the Mount. Yet it shall take me a lifetime finding it out. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” {Matt 5:6NIV}

Why brokenness? Why does following Jesus mean pain along the way? These are the honest questions of the brokenhearted.

My good friend and I were discussing a book we read called A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness, by Gene Edwards. She sent me this quote that feels like so much to digest:

But in the midst of your tears and frustration...you will only know the question, not the answer. No one knows the answer except God...And he never tells...

Creation feels the vast chasm left by sin that separated heaven and earth. Jesus literally spent himself in demonstrating how that gap must be filled. It was in the spending of a life--His life--that we could be filled. He loves the world so much that he poured out his own blood just to save us.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes,

Those who follow Jesus will be hungry and thirsty along the way. They are filled with longing for forgiveness of all sins and for complete renewal; they long for the renewal of the earth and for God’s perfect justice.

Only in hungering for God's righteousness do we know the brokenness of our own hearts and can truly receive the richness of His grace. This is beyond my comprehension. I'm not a theologian and will not pretend to have knowledge beyond what we receive from scripture.

But in this promise I find peace:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart,

O God, You will not despise.

{Psalm 51:17 NASB}

O Lord, create in me a clean heart. Renew my spirit and revive me according to your righteousness. Let brokenness lead to the filling of your Spirit in me. May your kingdom reign in my heart and your will be done on the earth.

Revive My Heart - Write 31 Days