He Breaks Us to Make Us

This blog post is based off of Genesis 32:22-32 from the "New Women's Devotional Bible".

The story of Jacob wrestling with God is not one you hear about very often. It's very short, tucked in the beginning of the Bible, and most people don't see it as a really significant story. Even though it isn't very long, the idea that a man wrestled with God, and needed to be stopped by the "breaking" of his hip, is a pretty significant thing. 

How often do we fight God? We think we know what is best and so we are constantly going up against Him. Maybe a lot more often than we think? Sometimes God might just need to break us a bit so that we can see His guidance, His plan, through our stubbornness. 

I'm sure that we have all wandered away from God. We are, in fact, called God's sheep - which makes perfect sense. We aren't the "brightest" at times and we have all wandered off aimlessly seeking something that seemed adventurous. 

I know that in my life God has broken me a couple times. Now, it wasn't physically but emotionally. There have come times in my life where I needed to be broken. I needed to be stopped in my tracks so that I could finally see that there was another path that I was supposed to be taking. Sometimes, God needs to stop us so that we can take a breather and reexamine where we are. 

There may be times in life, or have already been moments, where you felt like God was not leading you. Maybe you were physically, emotionally, or spiritually broken and you weren't quite sure where God was. Maybe it was those times that God was there all along. Maybe He was the one breaking you so that you would see His purpose. Maybe you are currently broken. Trust in Him. He is making you, shaping you, and molding you into who you should be. 

Psalms 23; 51:15-17

James 1:2-5

1 Peter 4:12-14

"But sometimes God breaks us to make us better. He may break our hearts so we will make room for him there. He may break our will so we can discover his will for us. He may break our physical strength so we discover that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)