You’ve begged, pleaded, fasted, prayed and still the mountain hasn’t moved. You’re reading books, asking for advice and doing everything you know to do to break through that thing that has been vexing you for so long. It could be a relational problem, a work-related issue, a physical challenge or even a spiritual obstacle. All of us have found ourselves in that place at one time or another and yet can still feel ill-equipped to deal with such situations. While we spend so much of our time and energy banging our head against that wall in front of us, perhaps a different strategy is required? Maybe the secret to getting a breakthrough isn’t pulverizing the boulder in front of you but allowing yourself to be broken?
Do you remember the cartoons where there would be a swarm of bees that take the shape of an airplane or a giant hammer or something silly to harass one of the characters in the show? Wile E. Coyote would try and put an obstacle in the path of the swarm of bees but they would simply break up into smaller, individual pieces, go around the obstacle and then ‘reshape’ into whatever object they were previously. It’s a nonsensical example but I want you to get a picture of “the other way” around a challenge. While you may be trying to muscle your way through, piling on heaps of guilt and anger, frustrated that you can’t move the mountain, perhaps what is required is you being the one to break so you can navigate the challenge. The swarm of cartoon bees allowed their formation to break in order to move forward instead of trying to press through. Breaking may not be our first choice, but what if it is the solution we’ve been praying for but weren’t open to receiving? (Click Here To Read My Post “Are You Willing To Receive”)
Let’s Break It Down
Why are we so slow to allow ourselves to break? Vulnerability, humility, desperate trust… these are all requirements of Kingdom Living. Obviously, they fly in the face of our culture which values strength, grit, drive, and dominance. While there is some value in things our culture propagates, we must also be honest about their weaknesses. We must recognize some rocks have been placed in our way to help break us! If we attack each challenge with the same set of tools, we will wear ourselves out. We must be able to admit our pride is as much of a mountain in our way as is the person with whom we’re so frustrated. Could it be the Lord put the person there to expose your need to humble yourself more? I think it happens more often than we realize. (Click Here To Read My Post “It’s Both”)
Brokenness attracts the Holy Spirit. When we allow our stubborn will to break and we admit we don’t know everything, we invite God to teach us and lead us into a better way. We so quickly forget our comfort isn’t God’s highest goal in this world. While it is true He comforts the afflicted you should also be reminded He lovingly afflicts the comfortable. Your prayer request to be delivered out of the situation you are in may be counterproductive… God may have orchestrated the situation to get you to break! Why would He do such a thing? Because He knows you will limit your own capacity through pride and the desire for comfort. The glorious destiny He has planned for you will require so much more. He can not allow you to limit yourself or you will miss out on all the blessings He has in store for you. When something is broken, it is in the perfect condition to be renovated, expanded, reinforced, and improved. God knows what He’s doing and His hands are a safe place to break. (Click Here To Read My Post “Some Miracles Are Up To You”)
Be reminded today that you are not a failure if you don’t ‘win’ the argument. You are not a loser if you realize YOU are the reason you are having such a hard time. I am convinced you have never been closer to victory than when you allow yourself to be broken. Will some people scoff and brood over your “lesser” position when you humble yourself? I guarantee it. Will your Father delight in you and make you into something impossibly beautiful in the process as well? He’s on the edge of His seat, waiting for you to give Him the chance so He can show you! God is for you today and so am I.
From the Bible
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. – Psalm 51:16-17 NIV
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. – Matthew 21:43-45 NIV
For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. – Isaiah 57:15 NIV