In searching the internet for scriptural references for this topic, I have come across a number of blog entries and website rants that have trouble with the concept of God 'breaking the spirit' of his followers and believers. A search run through http://www.BibleGateway.com returns five verses that mention the term 'broken spirit'. For my purposes, these three are the most relevant:
Psalm 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenheartedand saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed meto bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim liberty to the captives,and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
The people who take exception to the concept of God 'breaking' the spirit, focus on the breaking and not the fact that God is near to the brokenhearted, that he saves the crushed in spirit, and that he has sent his son to bind up the brokenhearted. In other words, God uses that brokenness to make people whole.
Hence the paradox.
In our modern world when something is broken, most often it is thrown away. It's useless right, if it isn't perfect? Not so long ago - back in the dark ages of the 1950s and 60s - when something was broken, it was not tossed out, but mended. We didn't have the money to throw things away and replace them. Still once mended, the item - whatever it was - was never the same. Often, it was not as strong.
And yet it seems that God is saying that after people are broken and HE fixes them, they are better, stronger; in fact, they are whole.
How can this be?
Years ago I wrote a short fan fiction story called 'Two for the Breaking'. http://www.marlafair.com/files/Two_For_The-Breaking.htm It was based on the 1980s British TV Show, Robin of Sherwood. It dealt with two broken people who decided to try again. In spite of the fact that they were both wounded, they joined together to become stronger. The title was based on something my father taught me. His name was Dale Cummins and he was a Scout Master, so naturally, he was well versed in woodlore, etc. He took a slender stick and gave it to me and had me break it in two. It was easy. Little as I was, I just snapped it in half. Then he took twine and bound the two pieces together, side by side, and handed it back to me and asked me to break it again. The two short stout sticks firmly anchored together resisted every effort of mine - and his - to break them. In breaking, and then being bound up, the branch became a whole different thing - stronger and, in a strange way, even more whole than it had been before the breaking.
When I think of God 'breaking the spirit' of his people in order to make them stronger, this is the image that comes to mind. God does not break our spirit in the way we mortals think of it, which usually involves destruction of self-esteem and all the consequences that entails. God 'breaks' us with his love in order to reveal our flaws, our sins, and our earthly desires that supercede him, so that he can remove these obstacles - so important to us - which stand between us and him. God breaks us to make us contrite, 'to feel regret or sorrow for our sins' as the dictionary puts it, and most importantly of all, to humble us. It is only in humility that we can see and acknowledge what our great and good God has done for us.
Interesting, isn't it, that the cross on which Jesus hung was two pieces of wood bound together, through which we all became whole?
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