The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise (Psalm 51:17 NASB).<\/p>\n
When I am misunderstood with friends who do not understand and I remember that \u201cneither did His brethren believe in Him\u201d (John 7:5) and I bow my head to obey and accept the misunderstanding \u2014 this is brokenness.<\/p>\n
When I am misrepresented or deliberately misinterpreted, and I remember that Jesus was falsely accused, but He \u201cheld His peace\u201d (Matthew 26:63); and I bow my head to accept the accusation without trying to justify myself \u2014 this is brokenness.<\/p>\n
When another is preferred before me and I am deliberately passed over, and I remember that those around Jesus cried, \u201cAway with this man, and release unto us Barabbas\u201d (Luke 23:18) and I bow my head to accept the rejection \u2014 this is brokenness.<\/p>\n
When my plans are brushed aside and I see the work of years brought to ruins by the ambitions of others, and I remember that Jesus allowed others to lead \u201cHim away to crucify Him\u201d (Matthew 27:31) and He accepted that place of failure, and I bow my head and accept the injustice without bitterness \u2014 this is brokenness.<\/p>\n
When in order to be right with my God it is necessary to take the humbling path of confession and restitution, and I remember that Jesus \u201cmade Himself of no reputation\u201d and \u201che humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross\u201d (Philippians 2:7, 8) and I bow my head and am ready to accept the shame of exposure \u2014 this is brokenness.<\/p>\n
When one acts towards me in an unforgivable way, and I remember that when He was crucified, Jesus prayed, \u201cFather, forgive them; for they know not what they do\u201d (Luke 23:34) and I bow my head and accept any behavior toward me as permitted by my loving Father \u2014 this is brokenness.<\/p>\n
When people expect the impossible of me and more than time or human strength can give, and I remember that Jesus said, \u201cThis is My body which is given for you\u201d (Luke 22:19) and I bow my head and repent of my self-indulgence and lack of self-giving for others \u2014 this is brokenness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise (Psalm 51:17 NASB). When I am misunderstood with friends who do not understand and I remember that \u201cneither did His brethren believe in Him\u201d (John 7:5) and I bow my head to obey and accept […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3100,3448,3447,3446,55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}