Gospel Life Today
Friday, May 14, 2010
If you DECLARE the gospel and don’t LIVE IT – you will confuse people.
If you LIVE the gospel and don’t DECLARE IT – you will condemn people.

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Broken Bones

"Sticks and stones may break my bones..." And sometimes God breaks them too.

In Psalm 51:8 David wrote...

"...Let the bones which You have broken rejoice."

So what are these broken bones? There is a commonly held belief about shepherds, especially in bible times, that I believe illustrates this beautifully.

Sometimes there would be a stubborn lamb in the flock that would not be content with following the shepherd so it would continually wander off. Everyone knows the danger a helpless lamb faces out on its own especially from wolves. So to keep it close by, the shepherd would break one of its legs and then set it. This naturally made it impossible for the lamb to go anywhere and made it completely dependent on the shepherd. In fact he would carry the lamb around his neck as the leg recovered. During all this time the lamb grew closer and closer to the shepherd and eventually the leg healed. But something interesting would happen. The lamb had gotten so used to being under the loving care of the shepherd that it wanted no other place to be than at that shepherd's feet. And everywhere that shepherd went...the lamb was sure to go. At first, what seemed like an act of cruelty proved to be the greatest act of love.

So often as Christians we are just like that stubborn lamb...

When things don't go our way we cry and complain. We say, "How can this be happening to me?" We are not content to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart..." (Prov 3:5) Instead we lean on our own understanding because of how we think things ought to be.

So we wander off on our own and our pride says, "I can do all things." We ignore the rest of the verse that says, "through Him who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13)

Which means that sometimes our Shepherd has to "break our legs" to remind us that apart from Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5) Instead of trying to "take care of it" ourselves we need to...

"...humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Pet 5:6–7)

Part of living the gospel life is being content. The Apostle Paul knew this well...

"Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am." (Phil 4:11)