Description
People break too, by unpredictable life circumstances, pain, disappointments, accidents, and changes. It’s not pain, circumstances, or setbacks that break us, but the condition that we are left in after the pain. This condition, referred to as “brokenness”, will eventually halt or interrupt our lives, leaving us without a drive to pursue our dreams, to get to our promised land, or to become who we are supposed to be. This means that people aren’t functioning optimally.
When something breaks, and nothing is done to fix it, we say that it is broken. This means that it has been damaged or altered in such a way that its functionality has been interrupted and it’s not functioning as it should. An unfulfilled promise is a broken promise. English spoken with gaps and errors is referred to as broken English, and an uneven surface is a broken terrain. Even the communication environment, which is responsible for the success of any endeavor, can experience some halts and interruptions, impeding the ability to send the message or the recipients’ ability to understand the message.
I wasn’t in a great condition to function optimally. Conditions are important, they facilitate the manifestation of certain things. For example, growth can only happen under certain conditions. If the conditions aren’t conducive, then growth would be hindered. On the same note, for human beings to function optimally, certain conditions are required to facilitate it.
In the Bible, we note how the condition of people inhibited their functionality. One such man was Bartimaeus (Mark 10). The name Bartimaeus is formed from two words16; “bar” = son and “timaios” = honorable. But he was known as the blind beggar. So, he pleaded with Jesus to address his condition, his loss of sight. This condition had made him a beggar. It’s recorded that Bartimaeus threw his cloak aside and jumped up to receive his sight back. When his condition changed, he started following Jesus.
Then there was Gideon (Judges 6), someone who was strong and could save Israel from the power of the Midianites. But he thought he couldn’t because of his conditions, family background, his family group being the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh, and him being the least important member of his family. God addressed his condition with a promise: “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive” (Judges 6:16 NIV).
A person’s condition is so important that God addressed it before He could commission individuals for His work.
The book of Joshua starts with Joshua’s commissioning as a successor to Moses. God gave Joshua instructions and assurance, and then deals with Joshua’s condition: “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land, I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” (Joshua 1:5–7). It’s my interpretation that God had to deal with the condition of Joshua at the time because He knew that Joshua needed to be in the right condition to successfully deliver the children of Israel to the Promised Land.
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