“When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible man and breaks him. As the evangelist, Charles Spurgeon, said, ‘We are but men, frail, feeble, and apt to faint.’

I am intrigued by the word ‘broken. ‘ It means, literally, ‘shattered.’ My sacrifice to God, according to Psalm 51:17, is a shattered spirit and a bruised heart. It is not until the pride of our heart is shattered that we will begin to understand the deep things of God. The shattering and the bruising are so designed by God for the preparation of his spokesman. As pastors, we understand what it means to be frail.

“God will not despise a broken and contrite heart. All of God’s giants have been weak men. Every man that sits on this platform is a weak man. Every one of us is frail, feeble, and apt to faint. The greatest gift you can give your congregation is a genuine model of your humanity. Admit your weakness, or your unresolved conflicts, and then let yourself be broken about it by God. It may be between you and your wife; it may be between you and your staff member’ it may be an unforgiving spirit, even alcoholism, incest, pornography—maybe gluttony, or plagiarism, or a critical spirit. It could be the sin of pride, or those sins that Jesus hated most, those of hypocrisy. Release it to God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Men of Action, Spring 1996, Chuck Swindoll, What It Means To Be Broken!