{"id":422,"date":"2013-07-14T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=422"},"modified":"2013-07-13T20:25:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-14T01:25:55","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-spiritual-brokenness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2013\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-spiritual-brokenness\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about spiritual brokenness?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:17–18—NKJV)<\/cite> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Advice given to young parents goes something like this, \u201cbend his will but do not break his spirit.\u201d The intent of the admonition is to counsel moderation in discipline but such advice can also lead parents away from absolute principle and toward subjective evaluations of a child\u2019s whims, moods and appetites. While genuine parental love is always sensitive to a child\u2019s body and spirit, loving parental obligation is to provide the best structure that forms and fuels the individual child for the healthy habits and thought-processes of adulthood. Parenting is not to just survive your child\u2019s adolescence, nor to get \u201cgood kids.\u201d The job of a parent, as my bride is fond of saying, is to \u201craise your kids so that you get good grandkids.\u201d Parents must parent with an eye fixed upon a point far down the road. Our text is teaching that men and women of faith, endurance, courage, original thought, resource, steadiness, and covenant-keeping are ones who are well acquainted with healthy brokenness of spirit. <\/p>\n

Every thinking person will agree that there are certain barbarous characteristics of the unbridled human spirit that must be throttled if a person is to come to responsible adulthood, let alone saving faith in Jesus Christ. Willful rebellion, selfish pride, self-deceiving arrogance, ignoring the true God, and insensitivity to the preciousness of life are just a few of the more distasteful characteristics of the natural spirit of fallen mankind, as Romans 1 so aptly explains. <\/p>\n

Psalm 34 is one of those texts that was birthed in a desperate time in the life of David. He had been pursued by King Saul and feared for his life. He escaped to the land of the Philistines, the enemies of Israel, and while there also felt his life was in jeopardy. In his fear he feigned madness and was driven from that land. By his own admission, he was dispirited and broken. The psalm is a window into the soul of a believer who has been brought low and has turned to the Lord as his only hope. David\u2019s psalm follows a five-point outline: an invitation to praise God together (verses 1–3), David\u2019s testimony of his humbling experience (4–7), a listing of life lessons for the humble heart (87–16), an eternal principle for any relationship with God (17–18), and the conclusion for all men to know (19–22). Obvious to all is the fact that salvation is linked to contrition. <\/p>\n

There are two interesting words that David uses to describe his humbling. First, he identifies himself as \u201cbroken.\u201d It is a word that describes the breaking of the back of a ship in a storm or the breaking of a nation when its power is weakened or ruined. Pride is broken when one is humbled and truly penitent. The word is used in Psalm 147:3, 69:20, Proverbs 6:15, and 25:15. <\/p>\n

Second, David uses the word \u201ccontrite.\u201d It is a word that emphasizes the damage done by the breaking; it can be translated by \u201cbruise by crushing,\u201d to break into small pieces, \u201cthe debility of tone, the breaking down of stubbornness, the spirit bruised and broken as with a hammer\u201d (Wilson). Jeremiah 23:29 reads, \u201c\u2019Is not My word like a fire?\u2019 says the LORD, \u2018and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?\u2019\u201d God handles the humbled and broken in spirit differently than He handles the self-righteous, as Ezekial 34:16 states, \u201c\u2019I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what is sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.\u2019\u201d For this reason Isaiah 57:15 enjoins, \u201cFor thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose Name is Holy: \u2018I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Think on the following verses: \u201cBut on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word\u201d (Isaiah 66:2). \u201cThe LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives…\u201d (Isaiah 61:1). \u201cThe sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise\u201d  (Psalm 51:17). \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven\u201d (Matthew 5:3). <\/p>\n

Examine your heart for any hint of self-righteousness. Ask God to grant you brokenness in His presence and that you may model biblical humility before all who see your life. Find your strength in your brokenness in Him as you watch for tokens of God\u2019s nearness and His saving grace. Trust and obey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:17–18—NKJV) Advice given to young parents goes something like this, \u201cbend his will but do not break his spirit.\u201d The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}