This morning, during the seminary community’s daily devotional time, I was deeply impressed by the emphasis of brother who led. He married the themes of brokenness and shalom.
Setting out on the Christian journey exposes our vulnerability, removing us from the citadel of self-preservation and protection. We expose ourselves to being hurt and broken. And it happens. We all get hurt by the sin of others as well as our own. To cope with this, we need to face the reality of our incompleteness, our brokenness. Only when we face our own brokenness can we receive healing in ourselves and go on to bring hope to others.
And yet why is there not always immediate healing? There is something else in the picture:
For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me-- the breath of man that I have created. I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near," says the LORD. "And I will heal them." (Isaiah 57.15-19).
Sometimes I wonder why my brokenness continues. Why I continue, like Jacob at the brook where He wrestled with God’s angel, to struggle with my propensity to sin. My incompleteness. Until I realise that this brokenness is what roots my thirst and desire to draw deeper into Jesus Christ and to walk His way. And because of Him I can know peace – shalom. Then I am content. May you find this place of contentment too.
Setting out on the Christian journey exposes our vulnerability, removing us from the citadel of self-preservation and protection. We expose ourselves to being hurt and broken. And it happens. We all get hurt by the sin of others as well as our own. To cope with this, we need to face the reality of our incompleteness, our brokenness. Only when we face our own brokenness can we receive healing in ourselves and go on to bring hope to others.
And yet why is there not always immediate healing? There is something else in the picture:
For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me-- the breath of man that I have created. I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near," says the LORD. "And I will heal them." (Isaiah 57.15-19).
Sometimes I wonder why my brokenness continues. Why I continue, like Jacob at the brook where He wrestled with God’s angel, to struggle with my propensity to sin. My incompleteness. Until I realise that this brokenness is what roots my thirst and desire to draw deeper into Jesus Christ and to walk His way. And because of Him I can know peace – shalom. Then I am content. May you find this place of contentment too.
