The advent of the “Season of Teshuvah” reminds us that we all fail, that we all are broken people, and that errors and mistakes are part of our daily spiritual life… We journey toward humility rather than struggle for perfection; we confess our need for forgiveness and seek reconciliation with all those we might have harmed… During this season it is common enough to hear messages about our need to turn and draw near to God for life, but it is equally important to remember that God turns and draws near to the brokenhearted for consolation. As it is said, the Lord is near to the nishbar lev (נִשְׁבָּר לֵב), the one with a broken and crushed heart (Psalm 51:17).
Brokenness is the means through which God performs some of His deepest work within our hearts. A.W. Tozer once said, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” Likewise Alan Redpath once wrote, “When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible individual – and crushes him.” William James called this deep work of the spiritual life Zerrissenheit, a term that roughly can be translated as “torn-to-pieces-hood,” or a state of being utterly broken and in disarray… The brokenhearted live in day-to-day dependence upon God for the miracle…
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