And he said to Him, “Lord, you know all things: You know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
John 21:17b
Have you ever met someone who made some bad decisions, mistakes, or failures, and never recovered? Do you know of a person who has made some bad decisions, mistakes, and failures, yet for them it seemed to turn into a blessing? Would you like to know what made the difference? One allowed their failures to lead to a wounded heart, and they remained there, which negatively affected the rest of their life; the other allowed their failures to lead them through a wounded heart into brokenness, which positively affected the rest of their life.
Brokenness is actually good. Wounds are not. Being shattered is not a good thing, but brokenness is a blessing. Brokenness is being stripped of our prideful selves. The opposite of brokenness is not wholeness but independence. Brokenness is the hope of wholeness. It is the joyful release of our lives into the hands of Christ. Only a broken person can pray “Not my will, but Your will be done.” An unbroken person is critical, judgmental, prideful, and unforgiving. Having clung to the ownership of their own lives, they are screaming, “Mine, mine, mine!”
You can almost hear the brokenness in the old apostle’s voice when he remarks, “Lord you know all things: You know that I love you.” The Bible states that, after he betrayed Jesus, Peter wept bitterly. He was wounded by his own choices, but he did not stop there. He allowed his disappointment in himself lead him into brokenness.
David was broken in his Psalm 51 prayer. He asked the Lord to change him, not bail him out. That is the cry of the broken—not to escape the issue but to be transformed. Then David continued to pray in that old Psalm that after the Lord changed him, He would use him.
Brokenness is the hope of future use. The broken Peter became the Apostle Peter. In this passage, Jesus asked some difficult questions that revealed Peter’s brokenness. The prideful, unbroken Peter would have made excuses, left the conversation, or emotionally exploded. But Peter was broken; he listened. Jesus not only restored Peter but commissioned him: “Feed My sheep.” Jesus entrusted His sheep to broken Peter. To the degree you have been broken, that is the degree you can be used.
Have you been avoiding brokenness? Are there past wounds that have never brought you to brokenness? Have they made you more critical or suspicious, more hard or bitter, less trusting? Do you desire to be greatly used by God? Are you willing to ask Him to bring you to brokenness?
This is a tale of old and it could be true
But I will leave that determination up to you
A righteous and courageous King
Whom everyone loved and whose praises they’d sing
Was looking for a horse to be his own
But it had to be worthy to represent the throne.
They found the largest and strongest horses to break
But none of them could seem to make
A good choice for such a fine King
Until one day a servant would bring
An average horse to say the least
But try they would
To see if he could
Become fit for the King
The horsemen trained and trained
Until the final day came
One last test
Would prove to them if this horse was truly the best. They gave him nothing to drink for three whole days
And then opened the gate to see if he’d stay
A trough of water lay before his eyes
But the command of the King was to sit tight
The horse, thirsty and hot from the desert heat moved not
The king said, “Go” and the horse began to trot Toward the water trough.
“Stop” yelled the noble King and to everyone’s wonder
The horse halted just short of the water
The horse stood still, not moving an inch
Until the King commanded, “Take a drink”
And so it was not the largest and strongest horse that was chosen
But the one who was willing to become broken.
Now adorned in royalty and honor
No one looks at him and ponders
What could he have been?
When you see him, you don’t see his brokenness,
Because your attention is drawn to the glory of his King.