Broken

BROKEN

Psalm 51:17: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and
contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Consider this saying. You ever thought that storms may come in the form of discipline, and you must go through the discipline to experience the brokenness that God wants you to have in your life to be more deeply rooted in Him.
To be broken, and experience brokenness, is not pleasant at times. Hebrews 12:11: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." To be broken or contrite is to be broken-hearted for sin, deeply affected with grief and sorrow for sin, or penitent - suffering sorrow of heart on account of sin.

How do you get there? Well, for me, I had to be hit on the head with the Lord's hammer. An anvil had to fall out of the sky to get to the truth of Who God is in my life - my Lord and my Master. My name is not Felix the Cat, and my bag of tricks does not even compare to what God has in His bag. My bag had self-centeredness, pride, self-righteousness, arrogance, selfish ambition, envy ... need I go on?

God's bag has love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23) in it. And that's just scratching the surface of Who His is. God has reached down and used people in my life with these qualities to discipline me.

Romans 11:22a: "Consider the kindness and sternness of God," to show me the way to go and get deeper rooted in Him. Sometimes I have needed that instruction, and sometimes I have not. Proverbs 29:19, "A servant cannot be corrected by mere words; though he understands, he will not respond." That's where it starts, in responding correctly to the discipline.

Look at the life of Kind David, a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). Then he committed adultery and murder. He did it in secret, but God disciplined him in broad daylight (2 Samuel 12:12).

David's bag didn't have enough tricks in it. God's bag had the prophet Nathan in it, and He used him to show David his sin and bring it in full view. I believe David knew what he did was wrong but needed God and his hammer (Nathan) to show it to him. That brought him to the point of brokenness in his life (Psalm 51) and become more deeply rooted in God. The Lord did renew a steadfast and willing spirit and the joy of his salvation within David. That came only after he experienced a broken and contrite heart.

What about you? What's in your bag? Will you call on Him, confess and be cleansed? I pray you do. Or do you think your bag is deep enough to get you by? I pray not. I pray that you experience brokenness in your heart for sin before God drops his hammer on you as he did me, with the result of becoming more deeply rooted in the true, living God.

Never forget that your bag is just that, your bag. Always remember that God's bag is divine and has you in it. - Today's Freedom Fighter was written by an anonymous author. I will share tomorrow who the writer has been.

Great Quote: Storms make oaks take deeper roots.