Break Me
Scripture: James
1:2-4 (ESV)
2 Count it all joy,
my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness. 4 And
let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.
Devotion:
This devotion will discuss a very
dangerous prayer. This prayer is so bizarre according to the worlds standards
that it is laughable. Yet, it is a prayer that God longs to hear from his
children. This prayer is simply; “break me Lord.” Why would anyone want to pray
a prayer like that? In modern culture with its desire for a life of carefree
ease, it simply makes no sense. The world says enjoy the pleasures of life.
Flee from suffering, pain, and dis-ease and the people of God follow the way of
the world in this desire. Honestly, who would prefer hardships and suffering to
a life of happiness and joy?
The Bible is full of men and women
who suffered greatly. We say their suffering was fine for them, but we are not
called to suffer hardships and pain. We think of Jesus and the suffering he
endured on that Good Friday 2,000 years ago and rejoice that he suffered pain,
so we do not have to.
As the scripture above indicates Christians
must be prepared to suffer in this life. And if we look around us, we will see
Christians (possibly even ourselves) who are suffering. But who in their right
mind would actually pray for God to break them so that they could experience hardship,
suffering, and pain. After all, didn’t even Paul ask God to take away the “thorn”
in his flesh. Shouldn’t we as Christians
follow Paul’s example?
If we study Paul’s example, we
realize that Paul allowed the Lord to break him with regard to the thorn in his
flesh. Paul asked for relief and was refused. It was not until Paul was broken
by the situation that he allowed himself to accept his condition was not going
to change and he would have to live with it. So, we today must allow the Lord
to break us for our own good.
In my own life I have been broken by
the Lord. Similar to Paul I had an illness that was getting worse and worse. I
prayed that it would go away. My friends and family prayed that I would be
healed. Finally, I was thrown into a mental hospital for 1 month and a
residential recovery program for 6 months before I finally accepted my illness
and allowed the Lord to break me of my plans for my life and submit to His
plan. Being broken is no fun, but it is necessary for complete obedience. As
that man of God A.W. Tozer once said: “It is doubtful whether God can bless [a
person] greatly until he has hurt [them] deeply.”
Prayer:
Lord give us courage this day that
we need to pray to be broken by you. We admit our fear and trepidation that
even the thought of this gives us. Help us to understand that you will never do
anything that is not for our ultimate good. Teach us how to pray this prayer
and accept the changes that you desire to bring about in our lives. May your
will be done not our own. Amen
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