Beauty of Broken

Beauty of Broken

There have only been a handful of moments in my life when I’ve been completely broken.  I don’t mean depressed or melancholy, but down right broken.  That kind of brokenness is like a clay jar being smashed with a chunk of granite.  When that happens – our emotions, like the contents of that clay jar, gush out unabated and unhindered, spilling and splashing wherever they may.

Those kinds of raw, honest, and beautiful prayers of praise from utter brokenness can be found intermittently throughout the book of Psalms. A great example is Psalm 88.  Here are a few excerpts:

(v.3) “I am overwhelmed with troubles…”

(v.4) “I am like one without strength…”

(v.8) “You have taken from me my closest friends…”

(v.9) “…my eyes are dim with grief.”

(v.15) “I have suffered and been close to death…”

(v.18) “…darkness is my closest friend.”

That last excerpt “…darkness is my closest friend” is how the psalm ends.

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Let’s close today’s lesson with a word of prayer… (kidding)

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It would be a tragedy if that’s where we left it.

If a sense of despair is all we glean from psalm 88 then we miss the rich treasures buried within.

A cursory, hasty, inattentive, or superficial reading might give the reader the wrong meaning and message.  Such a reading might leave you with a sense of despair because – in your mind – you may have concluded the Bible teaches that God doesn’t always answer prayers – or maybe that God doesn’t even care.  You might deduce – since there is no immediate resolution evident – that God is either apathetic or He relishes our despair and brokenness… NOTHING could be further from the truth.

Unlike other ‘popular’ psalms, 88 doesn’t get preached or taught much.  88 doesn’t leave us with a warm fuzzy about our circumstances, about God, or about His intimate involvement in the affairs, happenings, and transactions of our lives – not immediately anyway.

But some of what psalm 88 can teach us is:

First – 88 teaches that the truth and riches of the Bible are indeed the ‘hidden treasure’ Jesus teaches about in the short parables of the Matthew 13:44-46. Jesus reveals that when we find that “hidden treasure” or “fine pearls” that we, like the characters in the parables, should sell EVERYTHING we have to buy them.  88 teaches us that the great treasure of God’s word requires digging, time, investment, and meticulous ongoing prayerful consultation and analysis.

Second – 88 teaches us that God treasures our raw and honest broken prayers as a form of praise.  A few months back one of the pastors at my church was preaching a sermon on prayer and said, “Prayer, quite simply, is talking to God.”  God treasures the honesty that spills forth from our brokenness – the unfiltered, unhindered, raw prayers that come in our depravity and desperation.

Lastly – 88 teaches us that that prayer – prefaced with faith – honors and pleases God.  Despite the psalmist’s physical and emotional brokenness – his faith remained unshaken and hope-FILLED.  I know this because the psalm begins with:

(v.1) “Lord, you are the God who saves me…”

The psalmist cries out “day and night” (v.1) to God, and prays with confidence and hope-FILLED expectation:

(v.2) “May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.”

That's faith and hopeFULLness in God.

God’s word is that treasure worth selling everything for to buy – NOT so that we can put it on a stand on our mantle or under a light on a bookshelf…  NOT so that we can carry it into church so that we “look the part,” but never bother to open it during the week…  NOT so that we can flip it open to a random page as if it were a magical book…  BUT so that we can DIG IN and discover the rich character and nature of God, our Creator and Sovereign LORD.

Raw and Honest prayers are a delight to God when they are prefaced with faith in His perfect character and with hope-filled expectation that He indeed hears and responds.

Revelation 8:3-4 teaches us that our prayers are lifted up in the very throne room of God as a fragrant and pleasing aroma to Him…  “…the prayers of all God's people, on the golden altar in front of the throne… went up before God from the angel's hand.”

Know today that if you are in a place of troubles, without strength, filled with grief from loss, feeling close to death, and that darkness is your closest friend...

Know that God’s word is a priceless treasure.

Know that God loves prayers that spill forth in the honesty of brokenness.

Know that God hears.

Know that God saves.

AMEN!

Blessings,

-Kevin