The Blessing of Brokenness
That leathery old saint, A. W. Tozer is credited with a quote I’ve shared quite a few times. “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
The thing is, often when I share this, I get pushback and it usually revolves around the idea that God would never hurt us, right? After all, isn’t his plan for our lives more along the lines of health, wealth, and prosperity?
Tozer would think otherwise. Consider the context out of which he wrote his statement…
“We tend to think of Christianity as a painless system by which we can escape the penalty of past sins and attain to heaven at last. The flaming desire to be rid of every unholy thing and to put on the likeness of Christ at any cost is not often found among us.
We expect to enter the everlasting kingdom of our Father and to sit down around the table with sages, saints and martyrs; and through the grace of God, maybe we shall; yes, maybe we shall.
But for the most of us, it could prove at first an embarrassing experience. Ours might be the silence of the untried soldier in the presence of the battle-hardened heroes who have fought the fight and won the victory and who have scars to prove that they were present when the battle was joined.
The devil, things and people being what they are, it is necessary for God to use the hammer, the file and the furnace in His holy work of preparing a saint for true sainthood. It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous
"It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” A. W. Tozer
So, it isn’t that God causes evil to come into our lives for no purpose. Rather, it is that he uses the suffering we endure for our good, to prepare and shape our character so that we’re up to the task of leadership.
It isn’t that God causes evil to come into our lives for no purpose. Rather, it is that he uses the suffering we endure for our good, to prepare and shape our character so that we’re up to the task of leadership.
Broken Leaders are the Best Leaders
I’ve learned, after four decades in pastoral ministry, that the best leaders are in fact the broken leaders. They’ve been hurt and will be hurt more, and they experience God’s healing. They suffer weakness, and they experience God’s strength.
The best leaders are in fact the broken leaders.
Is it possible for God to instantly and miraculously take away all of your brokenness or to prevent all of your pain? Sure. Anything is possible with God. But it isn’t normative.
Remember that no less a leader than the Apostle Paul received something greater than a miraculous deliverance from his thorn in the flesh. He was privileged to learn through suffering that God’s grace is enough. And, because of this, his leadership moved to an even higher level.
Refined Like Gold
God works patiently with us, like a master artisan who puts the unrefined gold into the fire time and time again in order to remove any remaining impurities. In the same way, He’s committed to refining us into the masterpiece he knows we can be so that we can show to others the beauty of what his grace can accomplish.
God’s committed to refining us into the masterpiece He knows we can be so that we can show to others the beauty of what His grace can accomplish.
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote about how God uses our dark nights of the soul to develop us into the effective leaders he desires for us to be.
“The scouring of the vessel has fitted it for the Master’s use…The Lord is revealed in the backside of the desert, while his servant keepeth the sheep and waits in solitary awe. The wilderness is the way to Canaan. The low valley leads to the towering mountain. Defeat prepares for victory. The raven is sent forth before the dove. The darkest hour of the night precedes the day-dawn…”
Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students
God’s Strength Made Perfect in My Weakness
I have a long way to go and a lot to learn as it relates to this. I’m very much still in process. But I’m making progress by the grace of God as I come to understand that it isn’t my strength that brings success or influence. It is actually God’s strength, made perfect in my weaknesses that can profoundly affect the world around me.
It isn’t my strength that brings success or influence. It is actually God’s strength, made perfect in my weaknesses that can profoundly affect the world around me.
To any leader reading this, my greatest encouragement would be to embrace your pain. Own your brokenness. And discover the truth of Tozer’s words. “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
Victory comes after our momentary defeats, and though grief lasts through the night, joy comes in the morning!
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