Worthless Pride

I haven't updated this blog in quite a while and I apologize for that...though I do not repent of it. I have been extremely busy and, though I wish I could have made time for this, I simply haven't been able too. Now I have a day off and wanted to post something. This poem is, I think, one of my better ones. It has always awed, and confused me, that God would choose brokenness and foolishness over strength and wisdom in those he calls to his service. Scripture calls us to be broken and I fear that, in modern Christianity, we have elevated brokenness to something that it is not...desirable. I subscribe this to the American culture of wealth and privilege. As a people we do not understand what it means to be broken and so we feel free to elevate this sorry condition to some lofty height, a thing to long for, to seek after, and to laud...but never find. However no one who has been broken desires to be broken again. Brokenness is NECESSARY for Godliness, but it is not desirable, it is painful, humiliating. Brokenness is akin to destruction, and in fact when a think is broken it is one step closer to being destroyed.
This is one of the great mysteries of scripture, that we become useful to God only after we have been broken, after we are no longer of use. Being broken forces us to rely on the Almighty, to trust him, to believe him, to follow him, because we have no other recourse. In this brokenness we become useful. It is a thing that is beyond me.

What pride have I
Standing now on mangled feet
Broken wings beat useless
'Gainst harsh winds of life

I am defeated
Trod down, destroyed
'Naught of use remains
Within my hollowed shell

And in this state of sorrow
You choose me, though
In the midst of pride that
Passed before, I held no value

Now, in my brokenness
I am made complete
In destruction I am whole
In emptiness I am useful

What sorry foolishness is this
That all worthy of pride
Should hold no value, but
The worthless becomes immeasurable?