Broken and Meek

Psalms 51:17  17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 

Psalms 149:4 

4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 

Galatians 6:1 

1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 

 As a society, we have gone from the Agricultural Age to the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Back in the Agricultural Age, broken and meek would be well understood references to everyday life, but today in the Information Age, these terms seem strange. 

During the time when most people were familiar with the process of taming wild animals, they would say that they are "breaking" an animal. The purpose of breaking was to bring the wild animal under control. Once under control, that animal would be useful for service. 

When a wild animal is broken, it's power is brought under the control of the one who breaks it. The animal's power is not diminished by breaking, but it is changed from wild and uncontrollable into controllable and useful. Now, here is a tidbit I learned from an old preacher who knew about the Agricultural Age. Another term for taming and breaking was "meeking". So, the true definition of both broken and meek is "power under control". When the scripture talks about being broken or being meek, we have to realize that it is talking about a process that is not under our control. Because our power and abilities are supposed to be under God's control, it is God our Father who must break us or meek us. Our part in this process is to submit to God and allow Him to take us through this process. In reference to Psalm 51:17, a broken spirit then, is a spirit that is submitted to God and that is why it is a sacrifice. 

When we are meek and broken before God we have submitted all of our God-given power, ability and authority to God for His use. Something that goes with meekness is humility. We need humility so that when God uses us, we do not take the credit or the glory but we give it all to God. 

In the Information Age where we use technology every day, when we hear the term "broken", we think of something that is damaged and unusable. To God, "broken" means fixed and ready for use. A broken spirit and a broken heart is submitted to God.  

I've made the decision that I want to be used by God, so I am allowing Him to break me. I want to be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and fit for the master's use (2 Tim. 2:21). I encourage everyone who reads this to do the same. 

Humility Word Cloud licensed under Creative Commons License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Click to Donate