Take Me Broken and Make Me One

From the Spring 2020 Issue  By Chris Partin

Take Me Broken and Make Me One

Have you ever broken anything that was valuable or sentimental? I think we all have. More seriously, we all have been or felt broken before. The American rock band Switchfoot released a song they titled “Live it well.” One line says, “Take me broken and make me one. Take the silence and make it a song.”

Because we live in a fallen, a broken world, we all have to deal with broken hearts, broken bodies, broken relationships, broken promises, broken spirits, and broken dreams. We live in a world where depression and anxiety disorders are rampant and financial struggles are real. Every family seems to be touched by health issues of some kind. Addiction to alcohol, drugs, or pornography are destroying lives and families. We all know people who have overdosed or who have committed suicide.

Sackcloth and Ashes

Brokenness is not new to us. Grief and struggle have been a part of human existence since the fall. In biblical times, people did not use social media platforms or some form of telecommunications to deal with their trials. Still, they had outer signs to show their grief. The most common one was to sit in ashes. As strange as this practice may sound, it really is a great metaphor for brokenness. It was a way for people to show externally what they felt and were experiencing on the inside. So, people would sit in or even lay in ashes. Sometimes, they even covered their heads with ashes. Numerous biblical characters did this when they were broken. Some examples are Tamar after she was raped (2 Sam. 13:19), Job after his calamities (Job 2:8), Daniel when he was exiled (Dan. 9:3), Mordecai and the Jews in the book of Esther (Esther 4:1), and many more. The LORD Himself mentioned this practice when He said to Israel: O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes; mourn as for an only son, a lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer will come (Jer. 6:26a).

Ashes are the emblem and symbol of death. The Romans began the practice of placing ashes of the dead in urns. A common phrase at funerals is, “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.” While the expression does not occur in the Bible, it is based on Genesis 3:19, which reads: By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

However, the one Scripture that came to mind when thinking about grief and ashes is Isaiah 61:1-3:

1. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners;
2. To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,
3. To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland [or crown] instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

In Luke 4:17-21, Yeshua read the first two verses of Isaiah 61 and said He was the fulfillment of those prophecies. The passage promises that we are going to make it—not because of some self-help book or prosperity gospel sermon or “you can do it” feel-good message. We will also not make it because the solution is inside of us, and we just have to tap into it. We are going to make it because God promises it, and—even better—He will personally see to it! We may be broken, but we are not finished yet. As long as we are still breathing, we can be made one, be made whole again. Hence, the good news is God is not finished with us yet.

There are a lot of things the world promises that can fill that emptiness and brokenness we may feel. Yet, it is only a temporary fix. Exercise improves the body. Therapy may help the mind. Friends may lift one’s spirits. Good fortune may improve one’s circumstances. But only God can make us one, make us whole. He is the author and source of all spiritual progress. As the theologian John Calvin put it, God intends “the entire renovation of the man.”1 If you watch any of those renovation shows on TV, you understand what he meant. All those shows follow the same format: The hosts find a distressed property and start renovating it. If all goes well, they end up selling it for a profit. But things never go well. Usually, the project gets started with a bang. The show hosts begin ripping out the old walls, tearing out the electrical wires, digging into the foundation, and knocking out the windows so they can replace them with French doors. But then trouble hits. The foundation is cracked, or the roof has to be replaced. There is mold in the bathroom, and suddenly, it looks like the renovation project has turned into a disaster. The producers always put the trouble just before a commercial break, so you’ll stay tuned to see the outcome. Once the crisis has passed, the hosts can finish the renovation.

Here is what I have learned from watching those shows (and is probably the reason why many preachers love to use this illustration): Renovation always takes longer than you estimated, and it always costs more than you expected. Nothing is ever as easy as it looks. If you think houses are hard, try renovating a broken human life! But God… He can do it. He can take you broken and make you whole.

Trading Beauty for Ashes

Someone sitting in ashes represents silence or mourning. However, not only will God heal our brokenness, He will make it a song. Look at verse 3: God promises to give His people a garland, a crown instead of ashes. The natural contrast would be joy, which He also gives (Isa. 9:3; Rom. 15:3; et al.). But what He promises here for the broken, those who are seated in ashes, is even better: God is willing to trade beauty for ashes. What an incredible ex change!

Beauty not only gives joy to us, but to others as well. It attracts people to God. Ultimately, as Isaiah 61:3 points out, it brings glory to Him.

He does so out of love. The relationship between Him and His creation was broken. How would it be made one again? He came to His people. He experienced the vulnerabilities of birth and of childhood. He experienced the pain of disappointment. His human spirit was broken by the lack of faith people displayed and by the betrayal from one of His closest friends. His body was utterly disfigured when He was beaten and mocked and crucified for us. And about that terrible, tragic, blood-soaked event, we sing! He made it a song when He rose from the grave and showed His power over death. If He has power over the grave, then certainly He has power over our brokenness.

Pieces of Marble

Sometimes we have to be broken before God can shape us to be all that He wants us to be. Another illustration we Bible teachers like to use is this one, expressed perfectly by DTS graduate, author, and pastor, Dr. Ray Pritchard:
In the year 1464, a sculptor named Agostino di Duccio began working on a massive piece of flawed marble. Intending to produce a magnificent sculpture of an Old Testament prophet for a cathedral in Florence, Italy, he labored for two years and then stopped. In 1476 Antonio Rossellino started to work on the same piece of marble, and in time abandoned it also.

In 1501, a 26-year-old sculptor named Michelangelo was offered a considerable sum of money to produce something worthwhile from that enormous block of marble called “the giant.” As he began his work, he saw a major flaw near the bottom that had stymied other sculptors, including (it is said) Leonardo da Vinci.
“He decided to turn that part of the stone into a broken tree stump that would support the right leg. He worked on the project for four years until he had produced the incomparable ‘David.’ Today the seventeen-foot-tall statue stands on display at the Accademia Gallery in Florence where people come from around the world to view it. More than a masterpiece, it is one of the greatest works of art ever produced. It has been said there is no statue more perfect.”2

How was the sculptor able to create this wonderful statue? Here is the answer in his own words: “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”3 Michelangelo removed anything that didn’t look like the David he saw in his mind.

All of us are such pieces of marble, such works-in-progress. We are not perfected, not glorified, not completed, as James 1:4 says, God wants us to be. We are all “under construction.” If you’ve ever visited a construction zone, you know it is noisy and messy. While the hammering and sawing continues, it is hard to imagine what the final result will be. But God knows the final result. In my mind’s eye, I picture Him as a sculptor working with a rough piece of marble. He is working on a big chunk named “Chris Partin.” It is a hard job because the chunk is badly marred, misshapen, discolored, and cracked in odd places. In fact, it is about the worst piece of marble a sculptor could ever find. But God is undeterred, and He works patiently at His job, chipping away the bad parts, chiseling an image into the hard stone, stopping occasionally to polish here and there. One day, He finally finishes one section of the statue. The next morning, when He returns to the studio, that section has changed. Who has been messing with God’s statue? It turns out that I am the culprit. I am my own worst enemy. What I thought would improve things has only messed them up. But God is faithful. He patiently picks up His chisel and goes back to work. He is chipping away everything that doesn’t look like His Son (Rom. 8:29).

At the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the spot where Ruth Graham is buried, engraved on her tombstone are these words: “End of construction. Thank you for your patience.” In my case, it is evident that God has a long way to go. But I am encouraged by the certain knowledge He won’t quit halfway through a project. What God starts, He finishes (Phil. 1:6); what is broken, He makes whole.

If you read this article today and you feel broken, take heart. God cares. He loves you. He is not finished with you. He has not abandoned you. He will lift you up from that ash pile and give you a garland (or crown) of beauty. More than that: He wants to put a song in your heart! He loves us enough to take us just as we are: broken. But He loves us too much to leave us that way. So, He trades us beauty for ashes. He makes us whole. He breaks the silence and makes it a song.

Dr. Christ Partin is the Pastor of Plymouth Church in Raleigh, NC.

References

1 John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians, Collossians, and Thessalonians (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Calvin Translation Society, 1851), p. 303.
2 Ray Pritchard, “The Promise of Transformation.” Crosswalk.com, Salem Web Network, 30 Nov. 2018, www.crosswalk.com/blogs/ dr-ray-pritchard/ the-promise-of-transformation.html. Accessed 12/4/19.
3 Stephen Houlgate, Michael Baur, eds., A Companion to Hegel (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2011), p. 63.