Better Than Ever!

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:1-12 ESV). A broken bone is always difficult to deal with. However, after it heals it will be better than ever. In fact, if you are healthy otherwise, where it’s broken will be the strongest part of your bone when it heals properly. You’ll be able to feel a little ridge where it’s healed up. You might even have a little advanced warning for a cold front. But you will be better than ever after you get your muscle tone back. While it seems strange, it’s true when healthy bones heal from a break, they are strongest in the place where they were once broken. And it’s true in more areas than just broken bones. Or at least it can be. God has always found a way to redeem and use the weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and failures of people devoted to him. In fact, he turns these “deficits” into opportunities for his power to be displayed. Whether it’s being down to five loaves and two fish to feed a crowd, the moral failure of a King who repents when confronted (King David), or the greatest enemy of the Christian movement being converted (the Apostle Paul), God has a powerful way of turning deficits into plusses, failures into opportunities, and weakness into strength. Now don’t get me wrong, we’re not talking about an excuse for failure or complacency about our weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and failures. But there is great comfort in knowing that God can use my past disasters to equip me and strengthen me so I can bless others. There are, however, three key ingredients for this kind of turn around.  First, as believers we want to have healthy “bones.” We usually take away from disasters what we brought with us into them, only more so. Healthy bones are stronger where they’ve been broken and healed. Diseased bones are often much weaker where they’ve been broken. Commit yourself to be “healthy” in the Lord so that when disasters, failures, or problems come, you can be healed and made stronger.  Second, we must acknowledge our brokenness and bring it to God to be fully healed. Hiding what is broken, or trying to just let it heal itself, will usually only make what is broken heal improperly. If it’s sin, confess it. If it’s failure, admit it. If it is weakness, acknowledge it.  Third, offer yourself back to God to be used by him in his work. Like the boy who brought the loaves and fishes, what we offer may not seem like enough to meet the demand. But when it is offered to the Father, he makes it more than sufficient. He takes what is broken and makes it strongest in the broken places.