Beauty of brokenness

"He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash hole. He seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord." Psalm 113:8-9

What is the beauty found in brokenness? Why is it that the poorest get to be lifted up with princes? That the first will be last and the last will be first (Matthew 19:30). That the poor in spirit will be blessed; those mournful comforted; and that it will be the meek that inherit the earth. (Matthew 5: 3-5).  Why must we rejoice in our sufferings as they produce endurance and character that can lead us closer to Jesus (Romans 5:3)?

I don't know friends why this world is as it is. I don't why I get to be the girl that talks to children who are about to die and woman after they have been raped. I don't know why cancer exists before a child's twelfth birthday and why guns were ever pointed at an innocent woman's face. I don't understand the curses of sickness, and crime, and despair. I don't like pain and the brokenness around me is sometimes hard to face.

But friends, I know Jesus, and He can be praised through the brokenness and pain we see and encounter, because He is a God of healing and hope. And the beauty of brokenness, is that in the darkness of pain, Christ's light is more evident.

The poor have the opportunity to be sustained day by day by knowing Christ and when they are fed by God's own hand, they praise Him. The barren woman, has the opportunity to take faith that though she waits and waits, God will provide in His own time. She will praise Him.

And we have the opportunity in our brokenness- to draw nearer to the heart of Christ. He desires to help us, to lift us, to strengthen us and He promises never to leave us. The beauty of our brokenness is that in our need, we can pray to God, and when He provides, we will have reason to praise Him.

My life right now is extremely funny, because God has asked me to do things, I never imagined doing and never thought I could do. And the truth is, I can't do it- I'm too broken. But Christ can. In the ways I am weak, He is stronger and where I lack, He provides. And I can praise Him for that. I can praise Him today in the brokenness and I can praise Him in the areas I still need, because I have faith that He will continue to sustain and provide as He always has for me.

Psalm 34:18 says "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit." "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:3). So I encourage you friend, to know Him and to trust Him with your brokenness. He is faithful to provide and worthy to be praised!