The Blessing Series of Teachings

From Brokenness Unto Blessing

By Pastor Justine Likuka – Ndola Zambia

Read Psalm 31:1-24

Psalm 31:12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

Psalm 147:3 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

You probably remember the children’s nursery rhyme – Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.

This week we have watched with great sadness all the images of people in Kenya who’ve

experienced a great fall. Their lives have been shattered by political catastrophes and they find themselves completely broken.

Criticism of our government has been heavy this week as broken-hearted people who have lost everything are hoping for it all to be miraculously restored.

…But all the king’s horses (these government agencies) and all the king’s men (police, military and agency leaders) have not been able to put their lives back together.

1. As much as we would like to help these people and others in our midst today that are hurting, we can’t rebuild broken people.

2. But our God is very capable of rebuilding broken people.

3. In fact, this is one of His specialties:

I read an article about some actual business signs that advertise to the public the skills of the

proprietor:

At on Optometrist’s office: "If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place."

On a taxidermist’s window: "We really know our stuff."

In a Podiatrist’s window: "Time wounds all heels."

On a butcher’s window: "Let me meat your needs."

Outside a muffler shop: "No appointment necessary. We’ll hear you coming."

On the side of a garbage truck: "We’ve got what it takes to take what you’ve got."

If God had a sign outside His office, it might say,

“I can’t fix it until it is broken.”

Dear brother and sister, I want you to understand that brokenness does not have to be

blight, brokenness can become a blessing.

I want you to understand how to go From Brokenness to Blessing.

Notice first of all:

I. The Reality Of Brokenness

Throughout the Scriptures, but especially in the Psalms, we meet people who are broken.

David cried out in Psalm 31:12, “I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.”

Generally speaking, when something is broken, it is useless unless it can be repaired:

1. Perhaps you know what it is like to have a broken arm or leg.

2. When a person is financially drained so that he has absolutely nothing, he is said to be

"broke."

3. When a person’s romantic hopes are destroyed, he is heart BROKEN.

4. When a person is at rock bottom, he is broken. Under God’s chastisement, David said:

Psalms 38:8 I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

5. When a person is broken, he is almost useless, unless he gets repaired.

When things are broken in your life, you are in trouble:

II. There Is An Outward Problem.

It causes some to become bitter and angry and it hurts their relationships.

Proverbs 25:28 He that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and

without walls.

They take out their bitterness over what has happened on those around them. They develop a

short fuse, they say things that they don’t really mean, and they lose control of their emotions

very easily.

David’s broken heart caused him to say in Psalm 31:6, “I have hated them that regard lying

vanities.”

In verse 17, he said, “let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.”

In verse 18, he cried out, “Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things

proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.”

III. There is An Inward Problem.

It causes some to become discouraged, disillusioned, and even depressed.

Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the

spirit is broken.

A newspaper reporter in Chicago received a telephone call. It was from a man named James Lee, and he said he was sending the newspaper a letter containing the story of his suicide.

Immediately the reporter tried to trace the call. But he was too late. When the police arrived, the young man was slumped in the phone booth with a bullet through his head. In one of his pockets, they found a child’s crayon drawing. It was all wrinkled up and faded, but obviously the man treasured it. On the back of it a note said: "Please leave this in my pocket. I want to have it buried with me." The drawing was signed by his little daughter, Shirley, who had been killed in a fire just 5 months before. When she died, Lee had been so full of grief he asked total strangers to attend her funeral so she would have a nice service. He told them there was no family left because Shirley’s mother had died when the child was 2 years old.

Why did James Lee take his own life? He was broken and didn’t know where to turn.

1. There Is An Outward Problem.

2. There Is An Inward Problem.

3. There Is An Upward Problem.

Some blame God for what has happened and either drop out of church or quit serving like they used to.

Proverbs 25:19 Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

I. The Reality of Brokenness

II. The Reason for Brokenness

God is not a cruel God. He allows things to happen for a reason.

There is always purpose in the pain we experience here on earth.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

II Corinthians 4:17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

God wants what’s best for you…He wants to do something great in and with and through your life.

Someone once said,

“Before God can use a man greatly, He must wound him deeply.”

“Before you can bless, you must bleed; before you can help, you must first hurt.”

Oswald Chambers was right when he said, “If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed—you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.”

There is a clear pattern in the Bible that teaches us that brokenness precedes greatness:

1. Before Abraham became the father of many nations, he and Sarah were childless.

2. Before Jacob could be blessed, he was wounded by angel in a wrestling match.

3. Before Joseph ruled Egypt, he was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, and falsely imprisoned.

4. Before Job’s estate was doubled, he lost everything he had, including his family, his fortune, and his future.

5. Before Moses became the great deliverer, he lost his position, his possessions, and his

popularity.

6. Before Joshua conquered the Promised Land, he went through the wilderness.

7. Before Samson crushed the Philistines, he was blinded, binded, and grinded.

8. Before David became king, he was renounced by his family, ridiculed by his foes, and rejected by his friends.

9. Before Daniel could be used mightily, he had to spend the night in the lion’s den.

10. Before Hosea became a powerful spokesman for God, his wife betrayed him and returned to prostitution.

11. Before Peter preached 3,000 souls into the kingdom, he denied his Savior three times and

went out and wept bitterly.

12. Before Paul brought the gospel to the Gentiles, he was blinded on the Damascus road.

Watchman Nee said, “Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness. The one who has accepted the most discipline is the one who can best serve. The more one is broken, the more sensitive he is.”

Oswald Chambers commented, "When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak,

temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new

friendship—when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us."

Sometimes God sees that our life is a mess and He breaks us so that He can remake us.

Jeremiah 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he

made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

The songwriter expressed the proper attitude we should have during the times when we are

broken:

Have Thine own way, Lord.

Have Thine own way.

Thou art the Potter,

I am the clay.

Mold me and make me

After thy will.

While I am waiting,

Yielded and still.

The Potter is able to mend the broken vessel and use it for His own purposes and pleasure!

I. The Reality Of Brokenness

II. The Reason For Brokenness

III. The Remedy For Brokenness

A. There Must Be A Relationship.

In verse 3, David was able to testify, “For you are my rock and my fortress…”

Again in verse 14, David proclaimed, “Thou art my God.”

Do you have a relationship with God today? That is the most important question to answer.

B. There Must Be A Reliance.

1. V. 1 –“In you, O LORD, do I put my trust…”

2. V. 4 –“For you are my strength.”

3. V. 5 –“Into your hand I commit my spirit…”

4. V. 6 –“I trust in the LORD.”

5. V. 14 –“But I trusted in you, O LORD:”

6. V. 19 –“Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you; which you have wrought for them that trust in you before the sons of men!”

7. V. 22 –“I cried to you.”

8. I Peter 5:5 –“For God resists the proud, and gives grace unto the humble.”

9. I Peter 5:6 –“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

1. God Cares.

a. V. 7 –“I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: For thou hast considered my trouble; Thou hast known my soul in adversities…”

b. V. 9 –“Have mercy upon me, O Lord…”

c. V. 16 –“Save me for your mercy’s sake.”

d. V. 19 –“How great is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you…”

Because He cares, God’s goodness and mercy will follow the child of God.

2. God Is In Control.

a. V. 15 –“My times are in your hand…”

b. “He’s Got The Whole World in His Hand…”

c. “He’s Got You And My Brother In His Hand…”

d. V. 5 –“Into your hand I commit my spirit:

3. God Can.

a. V. 4 –“Pull me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me: For you are my strength.”

b. God can deliver us from any situation and can fix our broken lives.

A. There Must be A Relationship.

B. There Must Be A Reliance.

C. There Must Be A Realization

D. There Must Be A Rest.

1. V. 24 –“Be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart, All you that hope in the Lord.”

2. Every child will let their parents help when s/he is hurt:

a. We must have a relationship.

b. Children do learn to rely on their parents – There is a relationship.

c. S/he realizes that Dad/Mom cares, They are in control, and They can.

d. The child rests in the presence of their parents.

GOD is able to mend:

Broken hearts

Broken homes

Broken hopes

Broken health

Broken happiness

I’m GLAD that our Lord specializes in healing broken things!

Psalms 147:3 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

Now we come to one of the paradoxes of the Christian life. The word "broken" is almost

always negative. However, the word, "break," can be positive.

For instance, when something good happens to a person, it is often said to be "his big BREAK."

To be BROKEN in heart, health, or hope, COULD be your big BREAK.

For instance, God gives you His attention when your spirit is broken, more so than when your spirit is proud:

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

The greatest men of the Bible were broken but God used them.

Are you broken today?

It may be that God is going to use you greatly and mightily to His own Glory. Don’t give up!

God SPECIALIZES in broken things!

Jeremiah 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

I remember crying to God one day when things were HARD, and said - “Daddy, I wish things could get back to normal.”

You may be here today wondering if and when your life will ever get back to normal.

You may be broken today.

Let me close with a poem written by Joan Clifton Costner:

It’s titled, “The Broken Harp”.

In the corner, of the basement,

Stood a cobweb covered harp.

Broken now and so forsaken,

There it stood back in the dark.

No one, in the little village,

Could repair the harp again.

And, you’d never guess the music ~

Or the places it had been.

Came a ragged man a beggin’

For a place out of the cold,

He was bent and slightly limpin’.

He was lookin’ frail and old.

So, the houseman gave permission.

He could sleep upon the floor

Of the basement, where was kept

The harp - with melody no more.

Soon, the house was filled with music!

’T’was as sweet as angels bring.

And, the household came a-runnin’,

Just to see the vibrant strings!

Dusted now, it stood in beauty.

Every web was cleared away.

And, the ragged man was singing

Very softly as he played.

In his song, he told the story

How he’d made that harp, when new.

Since he’d made its first beginning,

Fixing wasn’t hard to do.

Dear friend, if you are needing Just a touch from God above, Just remember Who has made you. He can "fix" you with His love. He can fill the empty corners of your heart with song anew. He can take each day and make a special melody for you! He can fix the broken pieces, Better even than before, And open wide the storehouse of His blessing evermore!

Although not a BONE of our Lord was broken, when the Lord was crucified and bore our sins in His body, the Bible describes His body as being broken:

1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Our Lord was broken, but through His brokenness, the greatest blessing of them all –salvation, was made available for you and me.

Come to the Lord all you that are broken – today is your day!!!!