Makings Through Breakings

By David Berg Nov 03, 2014

God chooses and uses the weak things, the foolish things, the despised things, “that no flesh should glory in His presence!”—1 Corinthians 1:25–29

The list is almost endless of all the men in the Bible whom God had to humble before He could use them, of all the leaders God had to bring down to the depths before they could stand to be exalted—lest they would have taken credit to themselves and not given God the glory.

Look at Joseph. Of Jacob’s twelve sons, he was his father’s favorite. His elder brothers finally became so jealous of him that they nearly killed him, threw him into a pit, and then sold him into slavery. But the Lord used this to humble him. Joseph was made a slave and a prisoner and condemned as a criminal before God was able to exalt him to become the savior of His people.

And look at Moses. For 40 years he was groomed in the very courts of pharaoh, and rose to become the second most powerful man in the mighty world empire of ancient Egypt. The Bible says he was “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” but God could not yet use him to lead His people to freedom, for he was full of the ways of the world and not the ways of God. Moses had to be broken first. So God allowed him to become a fugitive from pharaoh, and he had to spend 40 years in the wilderness doing nothing but tending sheep, until finally he was broken and humble enough for God to use him for the great task He had designed him for.

And consider King David, the greatest king that Israel ever had. He fell in love with Bathsheba, purposely had her husband, Uriah, killed in battle, and then tried to lie and cover up the entire crime. God had to completely expose him, humble him, and severely judge him. And he was soon driven from the throne by his own traitorous son, Absalom.

But was David’s fall a fall downward or a fall upward? God’s way up is sometimes down—usually, in fact! Just the opposite of what we think. David was humbled and the whole kingdom was humbled, and they were all reminded that it was only the Lord who made them great. And from that squeezing and twisting of David’s life came forth the sweet honey of the Psalms, and the fragrance of his praises to the Lord for His mercy—a lesson that’s been an encouragement to other sinners like me and you ever since.

The great, brave and mighty prophet, Elijah, was able to call down fire from heaven to confound the false prophets of Baal and to prove that he was right. But after slaying hundreds of false prophets, he panicked and ran away from one little woman, wicked Queen Jezebel. Hiding out in the wilderness, he became so discouraged that he wished that he might die. But there in his time of desperation, this prophet of fire and thunder became a meek little man who learned to listen to the still, small voice of God. And he became a much better, humbler instrument in the hands of the Lord—a prophet who fearlessly returned to face not only the queen, but the king and all of his soldiers.

And consider the great apostle Paul. He had been a prominent Jewish leader, the Rabbi Saul, and had personally taken it upon himself to put an end to the fast-growing sect of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Journeying by horseback to Damascus, where he intended to capture, imprison, and execute as many Christians as he could find, God had to literally knock him off his horse and blind him with the brilliant light of His presence.

But God had to humble him and break him first, and make him a new man before He was able to use him.

He makes us through the breakings we experience. Without experiencing suffering, loss, tragedy, and failure, you won’t know how to love the poor lost world and sympathize with and reach others with His love.


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