Have you broken anything? I think we break a dish almost every week in our house. Cars break down; dishes break, toys break, trees break… everything breaks. I often wonder if there is a point to things breaking? I don’t always know why things have to break, but I know that God can use broken things and in fact, sometimes breaking is essential. Grapes have to be broken to make wine. Olives have to be crushed to make oil. Tomatoes have to be crushed to make spaghetti sauce. You get the point, but did you know several examples of broken things in the Bible?
Perhaps my favorite one is found in Matthew 14:13-21. The story starts with Jesus speaking to thousands of people, and they started to get hungry. His disciples came to him and said,
Matthew 14:17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketsful of broken pieces that were leftover. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children”.
Friends, do you see what happened there? That bread had to break for the amazing miracle to happen. Ok, so why am I talking about brokenness? Because you and I are broken too. And guess what? The Bible tells us that we are far more valuable than things, so imagine what God can do through our brokenness and testimony! My prayer for you today is that despite what breaks you today or what has broken you in the past, that you trust God is with you, that he loves us, and he wants to use you.