What is brokenness?

Brokenness is the condition of a heart that has stopped defending itself before God. Scripture speaks of a broken spirit and a contrite heart, using words that mean to break in pieces¹ and to crush.² David wrote after his great sin, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). People throw broken things away. William MacDonald said God does the opposite: "But God values broken things, and especially values broken people."³

The breaking of self-will

What is broken is not the personality but its self-rule. Mark Partin defined it in two sentences: "Brokenness is the shattering of my self will."⁴ "It is the absolute surrender of my will to God."⁴ Charles Stanley said, "Brokenness is God's method of dealing with the self-life."⁵ Alan Andrews described the result: "Brokenness is a yielded heart open before God, a heart emptied of pride and self-claims of all arrogance, knowing our sin, our self-deception, our frailty, weakness, inadequacy."⁶

Not the same as pain

Suffering and brokenness are different things. A person can lose a great deal and come out harder and more bitter. Another can be outwardly at ease and deeply humbled before God. Partin said, "True brokenness is not a feeling or an emotion."⁴ Tom Palmer said the same: "Brokenness is not simply an emotional response, it's an attitude of the heart."⁷ Paul separates two kinds of grief: "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Corinthians 7:10). Tears do not measure brokenness. Surrender does.

God is near to the broken

The promises attached to this condition are among the warmest in the Bible. "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit" (Psalm 34:18). The God who inhabits eternity says, "I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite" (Isaiah 57:15). "This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2). Jesus began his teaching on the same note: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:3-4).

Pride and humility

The opposite of brokenness is pride, which may be loud or very quiet. It shows in the inability to admit wrong, in defensiveness when corrected, in the need to be noticed. "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). Nancy Leigh DeMoss observed, "And proud, unbroken people don't want the truth."⁸

Jesus told of two men praying. The Pharisee thanked God that he was better than others. The tax collector "stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner!'" (Luke 18:13). Jesus said that this man went home justified, "for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:14).

David

When Nathan confronted David over Bathsheba and Uriah, the king did not excuse himself or silence the prophet. "Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the LORD'" (2 Samuel 12:13). His psalm shows that he saw his sin first as an offence against God: "Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight" (Psalm 51:4). That is the difference between remorse at being caught and a broken heart.

Jacob, Moses and Peter

Jacob lived by his wits until God wrestled with him and left him limping. He was told, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed" (Genesis 32:28). Zac Poonen drew the lesson that God's way is "the way of brokenness and being crushed, so that God can manifest his mighty power through a broken vessel."⁹ Sunil Poonen warned that the work is not finished in one night: "Just maybe tomorrow morning, you're going to wrestle with Him and He's going to show you something greater about how unbroken you are in a certain area."¹⁰

Moses tried to deliver Israel in his own strength and failed. After forty years with the sheep his answer to God's call was, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11). Peter was sure he would never deny Christ. After the third denial "he went outside and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:62), and it was that Peter whom the Lord restored and used.

Jars of clay

Paul writes, "we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Gideon's three hundred carried torches hidden in jars, and at the signal they "blew their horns and shattered their jars" (Judges 7:20). MacDonald applied it: "the earthenware vessels in Gideon's army were broken, and the light shone out."³ Phil Beach Jr. gave a searching definition from the other side: "Whatever it is in your life that prevents the beauty and loveliness of Jesus Christ from shining through, whatever it is, that is the absence of brokenness in your life."¹¹ The Lord told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Not my will

The pattern is Christ himself. He had no sin to confess, yet in Gethsemane he prayed, "Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Brokenness in a believer is that same yielding of the will. It is not self-hatred and it is not passivity.

What it looks like

MacDonald made it practical: "Brokenness is prompt obedience, prompt obedience in accepting and obeying the will of God."³ And in relationships: "Brokenness is enduring wrong without retaliation."³ It is quick to confess, to God and to the person wronged. It can take correction. It lets go of the right to be right.

A way of life

It is not finished in one crisis. DeMoss said, "And brokenness is not primarily a one-time experience or a crisis experience in my life, though there may be those."⁸ Al Whittinghill said, "Brokenness is not only a thing that happens to you, it is a process."¹² David's prayer is one to keep praying: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).

Brokenness and revival

God does not leave the contrite crushed. He revives them. DeMoss said, "The heart that God revives is the broken, the contrite, the humble heart."⁸ Roy Hession's small book, which came out of the East African revival, puts it in a sentence: "To be broken is the beginning of Revival."¹³ Zac Poonen went as far as to say, "Brokenness is the most important thing in the Christian life."⁹ Peter gives the promise: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you" (1 Peter 5:6).