Brokenness

Just finished reading a book....A Tale of Three Kings--A Study in Brokenness.

It's a book about King David. Before he himself became king, he worked in the kingdom under King Saul. Apparently, this guy was terrible to him. He was so jealous of David. Eventually, after torturing him physically and mentally David had to flee the kingdom because Saul had decided that he wanted to kill him. The book says:

"David accepted his fate. He embraced the cruel circumstances. He lifted no hand nor offered resistance. Nor did he grandstand his piety. Silently, privately, he bore the crucible of humiliation. Because of this he was deeply wounded. His whole inner being was mutilated. His personality was altered. When the gore was over, David was barely recognizable."

He hid in caves, desperately trying to escape Saul and his soldiers who continued to search for him so that they could kill him. He's at the end of his rope. He is broken beyond belief and without even a friend's shoulder to cry on. But then the book says...

"There in those caves, drowned in the sorrow of his song and in the song of his sorrow, David became the greatest hymn writer and the greatest comforter of broken hearts this world shall ever know."

...God can use our brokenness. Devastating things that happen to us or that we struggle with may have mutilated our inner being, altered our personality or made us barely recognizable.

Maybe that's part of the answer when we are suffering...and we ask God, "Why is this happening to me??"

I think it reminds me that...

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.-Romans 8:28