Kristen Lunceford
Puffy, her hair unkempt, and her soul destroyed. It had been a rough year for her. Her children were all grown and gone, and recently, she just received the news that her husband was leaving her for someone else…someone younger. In her broken state she expressed the battle she was dealing with: “If I’m not a wife, and I’m not a mom anymore, then who am I?” It’s a question that seems all too familiar, I believe, to so many of us.
If we are not the people we believed we once were, if we lose the life we once lived, then who are we? What is left? How do we even recover and find purpose in this broken state?
This is a question I believe Israel dealt with after their captivity in Babylon. Before Babylon, Israel was the people of God…His chosen. He fought their battles, provided their food, delivered them from slavery, and gave them life in abundance. However, for Israel, it wasn’t enough. For hundreds of years, Israel wanted more: more gods, more relationships, more wealth, more acquisitions, and more of whatever anybody else had. They wanted life without God. In fact, they wanted to be their own god. In this pursuit of self, they chose a life of chaos.
And that is exactly what they got.
In their consistent rejection of the Lord a life of running, starvation, and enslavement became their new way of living. This was a life completely opposite of the one they had with God. No longer was there peace, but war. No longer was there wealth, but poverty. No longer was there love, but indifference and hate. After years of captivity to a nation they never thought would overcome them, under Babylonian control, they began to ask the question, now what? “Now what do we do, how do we rebuild? Is God still with us? Do we have purpose anymore?” With their rejection of God, they lost their identity and with it, their purpose. They couldn’t see how God could redeem this broken life they created. They couldn’t see how God could restore what was broken. They were so overwhelmed by their captive state, they could not see a way through it.
After 70 years of captivity, the remnant of Israel was called to go back and rebuild. They were going to build life a new, and they were going to start with the rubble…with the broken pieces of their past, their rejection, and their pain. This time, however, their life would be built on something stronger. It would be built on the understanding that God is a repairer of broken people, and in this case, broken cities. It was built with the understanding that God is what made them whole, not their past. Not their successes, their accolades, or their relationships. It was God… The God who rebuilds life from the rubble.
In Isaiah 58:12, the Lord tells Israel, “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” In other words, with the power of God at their side, there was hope. There was hope that life could still be created, life could still exist after the broken pieces. They did not have to be defined by the brokenness; they could be defined by the healing…by the restoration.
It is difficult when we experience life changing events, when our world gets flipped upside down…whether it be by our own hands or the hands of others. It is easy to lose our sense of purpose, our hope that something greater could come from such a mess. But it is important to keep focused on the Rebuilder…the One who restores and redeems. Perhaps he’s using the rubble from your past to build a stronger future. With Christ, your life never loses purpose…it never loses meaning, but we have to be willing to find purpose even in the broken pieces. We cannot be overcome by them, but rather we must overcome with them. Build a stronger foundation. Repurpose and redirect the pain from a broken past and use it to build life a new…and life in abundance.
