A Study of Brokenness

One of my friends gave me this book: A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness..it looked like heavy reading(something my heart and mind can't handle too much of right now). I gave a skeptic look, but in the end was convinced it was an easy read.

So, I've been reading this book...and it's amazing!!!!(not really an easy read):)

It take the stories of Saul, David, and Absalom....studies submission and authority...and the reality and necessity of brokenness in life and serving under those in leadership. I can't even really come up with a good synopsis or summary of this book. It's written so differently..but there's these lines that just punch you in the gut with their truth.

1 Samuel is one of my favorite books of the Bible. I first read it the whole way through during my solo day on Conquest..since then I've probably read it like 100 or more times. Then, when I went to Israel and studied the setting in which it took place, it took on a whole new meaning. And then the Lord brought me here to Redding where I've been learning more and more about the importance and significance of the "cave season". Where the Lord strips, breaks, humbles, brings pain, brings sorrow...to where when its over even your personality is altered..you become almost unrecognizable. I've read David's story many many times...but this last year I've finally realized the significance in it as I've compared it to my own life.

"Caves are not the ideal place for morale building. There is a certain sameness to them all..Dark. Wet. Cold. Stale...These were David's darkest hours. We know them as his pre-king days, but he didn't. He may have assumed this was his lot forever. Suffering was giving birth. humility was being born. By earthly measures he was a shattered man; by heaven's measure, a broken one."

All that to say...I CANNOT wait to go through it more..(have to wait a few week due to babies being born, but well worth the wait!!):). It may seem like a small unassuming book, but there's seriously so much in it..I've not even sure where to start.

Since we've been talking about the power of the Holy Spirit at the Stirring I found this quote to be very interesting:

"Many pray for the power of God. Those prayers sound powerful, sincere, godly, and without ulterior motive. Hidden under such prayer and fervor, however, are ambition, a craving for fame, the desire to be considered a spiritual giant. The person who prays such a prayer may not even know it, but dark motives and desires are in his heart....There is a vast different between outward clothing of the Spirit's power and the inward filling of the Spirit's life. In the first, despite the power, the hidden man of the heart may remain unchanged. In the latter, that monster is dealt with."

Things to think about....