God uses broken people, but…
Martha Olawale
“Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face,
even plainly.” Numbers 12:7-8a
As a Church, we must not allow ourselves to be complacent in our sins under the guise of acceptable brokenness. Instead, we should be encouraging one another to seek God and repent of them. I, too, am guilty of this, finding solace in hiding my faults under the umbrella of my imperfections. But, regardless of our beliefs, we must remember that God is holy and delights in using those whose hearts yearn for Him.
As I immerse myself in the stories of our spiritual ancestors, I am reminded not to glorify my brokenness but to ask God for help to rise above them. The phrase 'God uses broken people' should not be a shield for our sins but a reminder of the transformative power of God's love. Our spiritual forebearers, like David and Moses, were imperfect. However, their actions were not driven by defiance in their brokenness but by their determination to please God despite human limitations. They were motivated by a deep understanding of God’s holiness, which made them experience intimacy with God.
While they missed it and made mistakes, God knew their hearts and His history with them and corrected them. With all the wonders he accomplished with God, Moses walked in meekness and lived in awe of Yahweh. He served as a mediator between the Almighty and his people and never turned his back on God. Although he had a close relationship with Him, he did not take his access to God for granted.
Also, there was just one Bathsheba in David's history because he only needed that one to wake him up. He writes in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” That sin did not become a pattern for him, nor did Moses murder another man after his first. They were not headstrong in their brokenness but allowed God to mend them through discipline and conviction. It didn't become perpetual for them to defile God’s ordinances; they learned and repented.
By all means, God uses broken people, but not those who glory in their brokenness, because when we do that, we are walking away from God, robbing His grace in the mud. The Bible does not say, “Live broken,” but rather, “Be perfect.” That should be the standard we desire and seek. David repented and never repeated his sin, and Moses repented and was used by God. These people chose to honor God when the people around them forgot God. We have a choice: to live in brokenness or grow in perfection.
