A Great Truth
Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet. Yet God used them. A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures. (Max Lucado)
The Reality of Life on Earth
Remember the saying, “Failure is not an option?” In our corrupt, sin-filled world, failure happens frequently. By the time we reach adulthood, we’re all dealing with inner brokenness. Unfortunately wounded people often make wrong choices, even as believers.
Many Christians have looked up into Heaven and said,
Lord, I’ve messed up my life so bad. How could You ever use me?
At that point, perhaps God smiles. Because He can always use humble, broken people who know they need His help. I grew in compassion through my pain. Started leaning on the Holy Spirit when I kept stumbling. Prayed prayers 
like,
“Lord, I’m too weak, You’re going to have to do this by Yourself.”
Phrasing my divine request that way always caused me to smile.
But truthfully? I meant every word.
And He answered with power, tenderness and wisdom.
Much of my inner brokenness has been healed. I am a woman of faith now, because we have a track record, God and I.
I admit I can’t, ask for the Almighty’s help and then “we do business.”
Unusable
Want to know who God can’t use? Pride-filled Christians, These people won’t obey Him or seek His counsel. They never repent, mainly because they can’t admit they’ve done anything wrong. It’s always somebody else’s fault. Worse, there’s little compassion or patience in their nature, so an arrogant man or woman in ministry will hurt the sheep.
I know about arrogant people; As a teenager, I was one. My first time of brokenness? When my childhood friend Kim suddenly dropped dead while working in an automobile plant. She was 20 and so was I. I needed the Holy Spirit’s comfort and help desperately and He came, even though I wasn’t yet a believer.
Later that week, I surrendered my life to Christ.
David’s Psalm of Repentance
Committing adultery and murder, King David had developed a hard heart. By telling a clever story, Nathan the prophet opened his eyes to the ugliness of his sin (2 Samuel 12:1-14). In response, David grieved, repented and turned to God for healing.
All of Psalm 51 is worth reading, but my focus is on verse 17.
I’ve picked three different translations.
The gifts on an altar that God wants are a broken spirit. O God, You will not hate a broken heart and a heart with no pride. (Psalm 51:17 NLV)
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. (Psalm 51:17 NLT)
What sacrifice I can offer You is my broken spirit because a broken spirit, O God, a heart that honestly regrets the past, You won’t detest. (Psalm 51:17 Voice)
Want more encouragement? Think about some of our greatest Biblical heroes and their flaws. They were ordinary people who dared to say “Yes” to our extraordinary God.
This image came from Pixabay.com.
