Broken

It means to be damaged or no longer in proper working order. You see it in illnesses that ravage a once energetic and lively body. You see it in families where marriages are fractured. You see it in relationships that suffer from intentional, or even unintentional hurt. Brokenness is identified in tears and death, in suffering and heartache, in damage and decay. It often results in anger or greed, in selfishness or loneliness, or even in despair.

Brokenness is all around us. No matter how hard we try we can never escape it, because we all carry brokenness within us.

And it’s all because of sin.

In C.S. Lewis’ book The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, an evil witch turns those with whom she is displeased into stone statues. Her victims are alive but can do nothing. They need to be rescued. This is what sin has done to our hearts. Hearts that once beat for the love of God have been petrified so they cannot truly love God. Sin has created a wedge between man and God and between man and man. The difference is that a witch did not do this to us. We did it to ourselves.

Like a prison guard, sin has wrapped us in chains and has stamped us with a seal of guilt that we cannot break or remove. Sin is all darkness, all heinousness, all evil. Everything on earth has been taken captive by this curse and it destroys everything it touches.

Throughout Scripture we read stories of broken people. From Adam to the apostle Paul, all were hopeless on their own. But the beauty of God’s Word is that it is not just a story of tragedy. Woven throughout the Bible is also the greatest story of redemption.

Redeemed

But God!

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—

by grace you have been saved.

 – Ephesians 2:4-5

In God there is always good news. He has not left His creation in sin. He did not ignore the brokenness of His people.

In the weeks to come we will see the goodness of God in that He did not forget Sarah throughout her years of infertility. We will see Him care for Naomi as she deals with loss and loneliness. Behold our great God who gave Moses courage, Paul true zeal, and the adulterous woman forgiveness and the chance of a new life.

While we see the mercy and kindness of God in these stories, they are only temporary helps. The issue of our brokenness goes beyond our physical and emotional well being. All of the people we will study – and us included – have hearts and souls that need rescuing; otherwise our brokenness will never end. In God’s work of restoration we experience love, joy, satisfaction, and freedom through Jesus Christ. We will see that the answer to all of our brokenness, no matter what it is, is Christ himself.

Throughout the entire Old Testament we find God’s promise that a Savior is coming –  a Redeemer whose sacrifice would break the chain of sin and whose blood would melt the heart of stone. While brokenness – in the sense that we see it here on earth – will no longer be a part of our reality in heaven, we will see the evidence of Christ’s brokenness for us on a daily basis. His hands, His feet, and His side will forever bear the scars of that horrendous death He went through for us. The proof of our redemption will be forever before us, and we will rejoice!

So grab your favorite beverage, crack open your Bible, and together let’s rejoice with the broken and redeemed of God.

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You can grab a copy of our Broken & Redeemed journal on Amazon here or download it at this location.

We also have a corresponding kid’s Broken & Redeemed journal geared for children in the elementary grades. You can also grab a copy on Amazon at this location. 

Angela Perritt

Angela Perritt

Angela Perritt is the founder and director of LoveGodGreatly.com, a nonprofit online Bible study ministry reaching thousands of women in over two hundred countries around the world with God’s Word through their translated Bible studies. She and her husband live in Dallas, Texas with their three daughters. Angela is passionate about God’s Word and believes one woman in God’s Word can change a family, community and ultimately a nation. Her greatest joy is to encourage her children and others to love God greatly with their lives one day at a time. You can connect with her on Instagram.

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