Hello my loving Father,
What a day. Much pain, just like yesterday. Feeling extremely exhausted, cold and ill for
a few days last week. Oh, how it is to wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against
principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies as we live out our lives in your will and according to
your purpose in a broken body. There are many brothers and sisters out there with broken
bodies, spiritual warriors who go to war every day in bodies afflicted by disease, pain and
disability. I am one of them, oh my LORD and Father, I do not deserve this honor and
priviledge. I do not deserve to have been chosen by You for salvation and to become a
servant and a warrior in a broken body, for Your power to be seen by people who seek
answers, by those who mock and hate You and by those evil angels who would like nothing
better than to see Your saints reject You and blaspheme You on account of physical,
emotional or mental maladies.
My body betrays me and refuses to function in a healthy way. A beloved brother tells me
about his body, about how it embarrasses and humiliates him, and I understand him completely.
My body embarrasses me, too, oh my God, but my mouth will not speak any evil of You. How
could I possibly do such a thing, as within my heart lives the blessed Holy Spirit, a most
powerful and beautiful light? How could I possibly be angry at You, sweet Father, when You
give me the indescribable priviledge of seeing You smile at me sometimes while I am in
prayer? Oh my LORD Almighty, how the false prosperity gospel offends me. Prosperity gospel
says that those who believe in it will be cured of their illnesses, will not be afflicted,
will always be strong and in good shape, economic and otherwise. Oh yeah? Well, my good and
gentle LORD, anyone can praise You if what they have is everything they want and none of what they do not. Let me see those
followers and preachers of this health and wealth heresy fall in the mud of true spiritual
warfare. Let me see them get battered and bruised on the battlefield. Let me see how will
they wield the weapons of the spirit, if they will wield them. Let me see the Holy Spirit
glorifying Himself in them. Let men see, let the angels see, let the demons see.
Hypocrites.
I propose the establishment of the Society of Broken Vessels, a brotherhood in Christ that You, gracious LORD and Father, has seen fit to crush and crack in special ways. In this Society of Broken Vessels, we can get together as we go on our pilgrimage to our celestial home. We can take each other by the hand, we can push our brothers’ or sisters’ wheelchairs for them. I can take a brother or sister by the arm so that I may be lead safely. We can listen to one another, understand one another, love one another, dry one another’s tears. May I start by inducting some of Your most faithful servants, oh God. Job, who showed that You are absolutely sovereign and owe no one any explanations. Jacob, who ended up lame for life after fighting for his blessing from You, and never regretted it. Elijah and Jeremiah, the one facing fear and depression, the other the anguish of seeing the destruction of his nation, both of whom nevertheless clung to You and trusted You, oh God of Israel. Paul, that fiercely passionate, jealous servant of Christ who so faithfully served while suffering physical pain and limitations. In all these men, my LORD, You were glorified as the world saw You through their physical and emotional weaknesses. As it is written, “For when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Oh LORD Almighty, may those of us who serve and love You today glorify You as our ancestor saints did. As we deal with physical pain, may we open our mouths to sing Your praises and bless Your name. As our bodies embarrass and humiliate us, may we tenaciously cling to You and say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust in my LORD.” As our minds betray us and we get angry or depressed, may we run to our fortress, our stronghold and salvation as we immerse ourselves in Your precious word of truth. May the supernatural power that is Yours be reflected in us and through us, as a witness to all men and angels and demons. Let everyone on Earth, in heaven and under the Earth know that the LORD our God is one, indestructible, immutable, transcendent and eternal. Oh LORD of hosts, Creator of heaven and Earth, how you give those of us with broken bodies the most priviledged task of showing Your glory and proclaiming Your message, smashing all human logic and reasoning. Blessed be the name of the LORD, for His mercy endures forever, Amen.
Triumphant in Christ,
Zoraida
What a good blog, and oh so true.
I must get this to my e-mail address if it is possable to transfer a blog.
One of them is on sa and can go to your blog.
Praise God for you.
And thanks for the post.
Oh my goodness! Here you’ve gone and done it again! I don’t know how you do it but you are constantly and consistently composing written masterpieces. I believe that this is just as beautifully heartfelt and honest as anything you’ll find in any of the OT Books of Poetry. All the talk of brokenness, depression, embarrassment, and humilliation, led me to a passage in Philippians in which Paul speaks of these very same trials and how we ought to respond to them. I don’t normally go to Eugene Peterson’s The Message but today just out of curiosity I wanted to see how verse 20 read. I’m awfully glad the Holy Spirit nudged me in this direction. I was greatly rewarded! Here is Philippians 1: 18–21 from The Message.
So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
Once again, another beautiful post. God has truly graced you with a poetic spirit!
I hope and trust that I am not being presumptuous in posting this response. it seems to me the Society of Broken Vessels ought to be, and is, the Church. It’s just that some vessels are more obviously broken than others. I once read an article (how i wish I could find it again) written by a pastor who insisted that serving the needs of disabled persons in our congregations was not just an obligation, but in fact a privelage. Honestly, I was dumbstruck at that notion: really, a privelage? But did not Jesus say: “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25: 40)
We all need to be members of a local congregation whose members will value and enjoy us as members. This is true for our sakes as well as for theirs. For who would not desire to hear those words from their King? And who am I to deny them that privelage?
i am really struggling to write this, and I may yet hit “cancel” rather than “post.” All too often, my insistense on independance is stubbornnNess of pride. All too often in my weakness I hide rather than ask for help. If only i could truly believe what Jesus said, and humbly grant that privelage to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Today I can only cry, Lord, ”...I believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9: 24)
i think the matthew passage is not merely a description of future events. I bbelieve that it is also a promise. Jesus will not forget the kindness that is shown by one child of God to another. Therefore we should seek out that local congregation which sees itself to be a Society of Broken Vessels and confidently approach our fellow believers in Christ’s words. Then as we partake in such giving and receiving, we can rejoice and be glad, for our God is good, and all goodness flows from him.
Hello my dear brethren,
It truly humbles me to see that what little I write on this blog can be of so much blessing. Recently I told a brother in the faith that our LORD is the God of multiplication, because the proclamation of His things and of His message propagates as pollen is spread out by the honey bees. Hallelujah, blessed be the name of the LORD.
Scott, your faithfulness and courage is an inspiration to the rest of us. If I may be so bold and state this publicly, your understanding of being able to transcend imprisonment through the Spirit and for the glory of God is a true gift. You know all about this, as your body imprisons you far more severely than the way my body imprisons me.
Dear Vlad, I am glad that you did not hit the cancel button when you wrote your comment. Your words brought us a different perspective on brokenness, and you even touched on a very sensitive and, unfortunately, rather painful subject, namely, the subject of how many disabled and ill people are isolated and ignored in their own congregations.
When I wrote this post, I was thinking about those of us with illnesses and disabilities that render us housebound, or bring us physical pain, or isolate us. But you are right, Vlad, in the end, every believer is a broken vessel in one way or another.
Thank you all for your responses and the enrichment they bring to all of us.
In Christ,
Zoraida
Anothe good post. Thanks again.
This page is powered by Sero. Learn more about accessibility anywhere.