HE HATH BROKEN ME ASUNDER

Job 16:12, ' I was at ease, but He hath broken me asunder: He hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for His mark.' As we come through the Bible we see instances over and over of brokenness upon the people, cities, and individuals. As we look around in the lives of family, friends, churches and our communities we see brokenness of lives, marriages, and homes. It left me to ponder, 'What is Brokenness?' I know what my brokenness is. What is it that God seeks and what is it that God causes in this brokenness of lives and life? Defined as: 1. violently separated into parts : shattered 2: damaged or altered by breaking: as a : having undergone or been subjected to fracture b of land surfaces : being irregular, interrupted, or full of obstacles c : violated by transgression d : discontinuous, interrupted e : disrupted by change f of a tulip flower : having an irregular, streaked, or blotched pattern especially from virus infection 3a : made weak or infirm b : subdued completely : crushed, sorrowful c : bankrupt d : reduced in rank 4a : cut off : disconnected b : imperfectly spoken or written 5: not complete or full 6: disunited by divorce, separation, or desertion of one parent When you begin to align the problems and scenarios of lives today, they matched up with each one. The brokenness of lives are found here in this. Job was living, growing old and established. He knew God and walked with God. He was found perfect in the eyes of the Lord. This 'perfect' scares most in the church today and they denounce it. But we must have it, we must be perfect in our hearts, lives and experience unto God for His glory. To come up short of this is to miss what God desires and wishes for us. But with all this Job became an instrument for Satan to seek his destruction. And in one week, everything that Job had was broken. His life was broken to pieces in one fell day where he lost his possessions (oxen, asses, sheep, camels); then a touch deeper to brokenness, which was his children were killed; and his health was broken and boils covered his body. And as his friends gathered to bring comfort to him in his grief, they began to judge and rail on him that he was in great sin and this was why all these bad things happened. He lost his friends. Here is the picture of brokenness. Losing everything but the very breath you breathe. As we go down through this we will look at the comparison of Scritpures, using the term 'broken' and the 6 definitions. We will see just where the lives of most people are -- broken. And the only rememdy, the only hope, the only sure foundation, the repairer of the breah is the Lord God Almighty - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 1. Violently serparated into parts; shattered; Mark 2:4, 'And when they could not come nigh unto Him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was; and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.' Here we see in this portion of Scripture, the breaking up of the roof, to accomplish their purpose of getting the man to Christ. The necessity of getting job done is to break out of the mold of tradition and routine and find a way of completeing the task. 'Violently separating into parts', it is to dismantle it. Is it necessary to dismantle one's life? To shatter their life? Yes, in order to complete the task it is. What do we see? We see God allowing men to live their lives of religion, tradition and what has been or once was and never seeing that their is something else to accomplish for God. When you consider some of the great saints they had to lose their lives in order to gain God. I think of Hudson Taylor, who left his common European dress and mannerisms to become like the Chinese in order to win them. I think of Reece Howell who gave up wearing a hat, when everyone (out of tradition) wore a hat. God removed them to break the man from his ways. Break it down in order to put it back together for a greater purpose. Many a life is in the mundane existence of being; no purpose, no cause. God sometimes allows for the brokenness of life to get them where He desired for them to be all along. They failed to seek and find Him, He now allows for that way to be before them. When the violent dismantling of one's life is taking place we must immediately fly to our Lord. Where else is there refuge? where else is there strength? How shall we view this for the church? 'violently separated into parts; shattered' Can we not look around and see the formation of so many cults? so many denominations? Separated into parts by disagreements and theology. Looking uponthose that are covered in the blood with contempt and disdian. My how SAtan has won at this. I tell you the example before us is John Wesley and George Whitefield. Both at two differnt opinions of their respective theologies but still working for the King and Lord. And even though they disagreed upon these things, and their ministries reflected it in their preaching, they still remained a humbleness toward one another. This is what needs to be remembered about God's people, it is not about you, it is about Him. They did that through all their life. The church is shattered into fragments, broken across the board and missing the opporutnity to work and labor together to win the world. I am excited that as of late, some of those parts are starting to be mended and reared back up for a healthy God-like attitude toward one another. And we must look at an atlas and see this world is divided up into parts, groups across the globe. each as their own, yet each their own respective people in the eyes of God.