Ok please hear my heart. I am not criticizing just trying to get some understanding. Plus, I usually stay away from this type of discussion (and politics) because all I need to know is God is good and God works. The truth is no human can fully understand God and the Bible so all the debates, too me, are dumb. They usually lead to arguments and I prefer peace.
Anyway,
A few times I have heard the teaching that God won’t work with a hurt, bruised or broken spirit. Only through a positive spirit does God supposedly work. Basically if we are down and depressed we lose our connection to God is what the teaching is saying.
Here is my issue and my confusion. The times in my life that God worked the most was when I was broken. The most significant spiritual revelations come to me when I am going through a severe challenge accompanied with lots of pain. Being honest, during those times I do lose MY connection because I stop praying, reading my bible, etc. But that is when I feel the closest to Him, and it is when He speaks to me the most.
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And again being honest, when I was living in a park in Hollywood homelesss I was not rejoicing (or tithing). I was spiritually bankrupt and God delivered me. This last year was crisis after crisis after crisis. When I had lots of faith and believed, fasted, sowed and staying positive through the storm things kept getting worse and worse and worse. Now that I am broken I see more clearly though my spiritual eyes. Now that I am broken God is starting to work miracles.
Please know I really am confused here and my only motivation is to find understanding.
Any thoughts?
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I’ve never heard that teaching before, but I can’t say I agree.
1 Cor 12:9-10 says, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
As Christians, ideally, I think we should be focused on the cross and our redemption and the joy of the Lord. I think depression is a lie that renders us relatively powerless for a time.
At the same time, however, sometimes life just hits you in the face, and God says that’s okay. Because if it didn’t, we wouldn’t need Him and “Christ died in vain” (Gal 2:21).
Very cool…
Thanks for the great response
I can’t say for sure about your situation, since I haven’t been around you lately. But I can share from my own experience. Often, I have become complacent in my Christian walk and have attempted to substitute things for my relationship with God. It’s just a fact of living a corporeal existence. We tend to relate better to things we can appreciate with out physical senses. But God says early in the Bible, “I am a jealous God…Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” Now, I’m not even close to accusing you of idolatry–I’m speaking about myself. And God, in His mercy, has often seen fit to use circumstances to remove those things from my grasp that have inhibited my relationship with Him so that I could focus on Him. In that way, I am blessed even more than if He were to shower me with money. I have heard it said that humiliation is a proud person’s response to adversity; humility is admitting to God that we need His help in everything. And remember: “God resists the proud, but gives GRACE (Greek: CHARIS) to the humble.” (James 4:6)
The shortest verse in the Bible (supposedly) is “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) If you look closely at Jesus in the garden before his arrest, He was attacked so heavily that he was at the point of death (bloody sweat). From my perspective, the teaching you describe anthropomorphisizes God by attributing psychological implications in His dealings with us. Essentially, we make God in our own image and say things about Him that we can understand. If He is God, that is an exercise in futility. Finally, David says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) Take heart, brother. You still have a God and many friends who love you dearly and pray for you daily.