God Uses Broken People – 4 Reasons God Uses the Weak to Do Amazing Things
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Have you ever felt YOU were just too broken, weak and flawed for God to use? I have and many times I still do! If you have been wanting to serve God in ministry or in any capacity, but wonder if you’re just too much of a mess for Him to even want to make use of, then this post is for you! Biblical history has shown that God uses broken people throughout scripture.
God uses the weak things of the world and chooses flawed people to achieve great things!
Read on to learn the reasons why you are never too broken for God to use!
Updated and republished from 5/14/2020
God Uses Broken People – But Am I Just Too Broken?
When I first started blogging I, like others, fell into the trap of comparing myself to other people. I think we all do that at one time or another, whether you’re a blogger or not.
I would see all these wonderful posts and see how these bloggers SEEMED to have this deep walk with God and here I was feeling like a mess.
I felt like they must all lead these wonderful, God-filled lives of perfection, with perfect marriages, perfect kids, perfect friends, with cloud floating and harp playing, and I was just down here just trying to figure myself out.
It made me wonder how is God ever going to use me in this ministry capacity I felt called to (both in blogging and also in working on my Masters in Seminary) when I have all these issues in my life, not just prior to being saved but well after.
I would ask “Who am I to write and give other people encouragement or advice or teach anyone anything when I have made so many mistakes in my life and been such a mess myself? So many times I felt I disappointed God?”
I felt like I was somehow the only one that was messed up and didn’t have my act together!
Yes, I had this ‘head-knowledge’ that God uses the broken. I have read the stories. He has done it throughout history, but surely He didn’t mean ME! Anyone but ME, right?
God Uses Broken People and He Handpicked You!
It was during prayer and Bible study that God showed me something very important. It was as if He spoke right to me and said: “It is BECAUSE of the mistakes that I use you, not in spite of them!”
God uses those of us who are flawed, who have weaknesses and God chose YOU because it’s that weakness and brokenness and those mistakes that give you a voice to reach those people who maybe feel like THEY don’t measure up.
Those that maybe feel that their mistakes render them unusable or that they are too far gone to have a relationship with Him! It’s because of the mistakes you made that God WILL use you!
I felt like I was somehow the only one that was messed up and didn't have my act together! Click To TweetGod Uses Broken People and, Like Broken Vessels, He Puts Them Together Again
You see, in the Bible, God did not choose people who were perfect! No, not even close!
He didn’t choose the righteous and religious elite of Yeshua’s day to be His disciples. Far from it!
No, all throughout the Bible, God uses broken vessels and imperfect people, the flawed, the “messed up”.
Let’s face it, most of Yeshua’s disciples could have been residents on the Island of the Misfit Toys! No one is too broken for God.
We all have broken pieces and God uses all our broken pieces and puts them together again in ways only He could and He solidifies them in His refining fire and mold us into what HE knows we CAN be.
He makes us the perfect vessel that He can work through and use!
He Chooses the Least Likely
When you are tempted to ask “Lord, am I broken, am I flawed too much for you?” just remember, He chose a brash, big-mouthed fisherman (who reminds me a lot of myself being that opinionated New Yorker I am), He chose a King who committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed to cover up his sin.
He chose a Hebrew with a supposed speech impediment, He chose a prostitute, He chose a persecutor of believers, He chose a tax collector…and on and on.
And why is it God uses flawed people like these?
Why God Uses the Weak, Broken, and Flawed People of the World
4 Reasons Why!
1. Relatability
He chooses flawed people because that is who we can most identify with. We relate to those people. We can’t relate to the holy and righteous Pharisees…no, but we relate to Peter though.
2. Our Need
He chooses flawed people because their flaws make them see their need for a Savior.
3. No Cause to Boast
He chooses flawed people because they have no cause to boast. They HAVE to rely on grace. If He chose a skilled orator and leader to lead the children out of Israel, he might have assumed to have done it through his own skill and leadership and not given the glory to God. Had Peter been a righteous and holy man, he may not have seen his need to lean on God and taken the credit for himself. There’s no question, when you are flawed, that it was GOD who did the work THROUGH you and not you on your own!
4. No Special Qualifications
God chooses and uses broken people to show us that He can equip anyone to do His work. We can look at Moses and see that we don’t need to be a great speaker or a skilled leader to do God’s work.
Can God Use Me? Yes! He Will!
If you feel called to be a writer you don’t have to have years of experience. Write!
If you feel called to be a speaker, you don’t need a communications degree and years under your belt at Toastmasters. Speak!
In other words, if God calls you to something you can trust Him to equip you for it. You don’t need to rely on your own talents, skills, or abilities. God will equip you for it!
And when it is God that equips you, you don’t feel boastful or haughty in your own abilities. A flawed person is open to God’s work in them.
God uses the weak, broken people, not because they are capable. He uses them when they make themselves available!
God doesn’t need us to be capable, He just needs us to be available! Click To TweetGod Uses the Broken So That No One May Boast
It is not our own works! God is working through us and that leaves us no room to boast. It leaves us (or should leave us) praising God for the wonderful works He has performed THROUGH us.
God chooses broken vessels and puts them back together and makes them usable. Click To TweetSo if you feel flawed, that’s ok. You’re in great company!
Remember it is not about you and what YOU can do. It is about Him and what He can and will accomplish THROUGH you.
All you have to do is make yourself available, not capable. He will take care of that part! We should all be thankful that God uses the broken things of this world because we all are in one way or another!
And it is in our weakness that, through Him, we are made strong!
2 Corinthians 12:10
God Chooses Those That the World Would Least Expect – Examples From the Bible
Gideon
In the Book of Judges Chapter 6, we meet Gideon.
Gideon was ANYTHING but a warrior. In fact, he was quite the opposite.
The Israelites were under constant torment by the Midianites and the Amalekites. The Bible tells us they “ravaged the land” and left them nothing! They had no sustenance! Their sheep and cattle were taken.
They cried out to the Lord but God sent them a prophet. They wanted a savior but God sent them a sermon.
They needed to get right in their relationship with God. Israel had gone through yet another cycle of Obedience-Rebellion-Judgment-Redemption.
But God had a plan, as He always does.
He sent His angel (it is believed by many to be Yeshua since it mentions it is THE Angel of the Lord) and He calls to Gideon and says in Judges 6:12
Mighty man of valor! He is calling him a warrior? Oh, Gideon was anything but! But the Bible says in Romans 4:17:
God didn’t see the Gideon in front of Him. He saw the potential of what Gideon COULD be with God in him.
And Gideon went on to obey the Lord in spite of all his fear, he defeated Israel’s enemies by obeying God (God actually defeated them THROUGH Gideon) and became the mighty warrior God called him to be.
And because people KNEW Gideon was no warrior and WAS in fact a frightened, weak man, there was no doubt it was God at work!
And in your life, God is calling you, not by who or what you are now in your weakness, but in who He sees you CAN be if you just make yourself available to Him.
Jael
I so love the story of Jael.
In Judges Chapter 4 we learn of Sisera.
Sisera was the commander of the Canaanite army. He was a VERY cruel man who oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite. We don’t get to learn too much about her but that she was a Bedouin, a nomadic people who dwelled in tents.
Sisera, despite coming against Deborah and Barak with extreme might, was losing and chose to flee on foot. He ran right to Jael’s tent.
Jael (Yael in Hebrew) sees Sisera coming and tells him not to worry. She brings him into the tent and covers him up to warm him (and to appear to hide him). Well, I will let Judges tell the rest.
Judges 4:19-21:
This ruler, this mighty man, fell to a woman with a common household item for the Boudoins; a tent peg. This was like getting killed with a frying pan today!
To the world, this was a woman with a common household tool. But God uses the weak to accomplish great things. God uses the weak and God uses broken people to achieve HIS purposes!
What is God calling YOU to? Have you felt God’s call on you but felt too unqualified or weak to heed that call? Share in the comments!
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I love this! I can relate to you because I am also a writer too and I have a blog as well. I believe that He does used flawed people and no one is perfect. I hope you take a look at my blog as well: inspirationalwritingsbykylieceline.com
Thank you Kylie…happy to!
I’m so glad He uses flawed people because that means He can use us!
Amen Julie!! That is it in a nutshell!!
This is so beautiful! God uses me in spite of my mistakes and I am so thankful!! He is putting my broken pieces back together and making me whole! ❤
Amen Donna!!
Love the 4 reasons you mentioned in this post. I’m so glad that God makes us adequate and equips us for whatever he’s called us to do.
Amen Valerie!!! Thank you!!
Oh Amen!! He is teaching me so much this year about relying on HIs strength when I am weak. My #oneword for this year has been #sufficient, and He is proving Himself so strong when I am weak! Blessings to you!
Amen!! That is awesome!! Thank you!!
Several years ago, I heard someone say that God uses the broken people so that His light can shine through the cracks. That has stuck with me since then. Thanks for sharing your post on Grace & Truth. I really enjoyed reading it.
I love that Aimee!! What a great analogy!! Thank you!!
Wow it really has inspired me cause,because of my past mistakes and addiction made me so cold that I don’t feel love in me,but am now starting to reflect on these words
I am so glad it encouraged you and I hope you know that your past mistakes don’t define you! God can do amazing things through you! Bless you!
Thank you to this post. I enjoyed reading it. It empowered me. I’m speechless and I can feel that the holy spirit is working right now. All praises belongs to God alone. Please keep on writing, we’re looking forward for more encouragement words from you just like this one. I speak blessings and Gods favor to be upon you and to your family as well.
Thank you so much Haica! I am so blessed that it encouraged you!! Blessings!!
so blessed that I’ve read this one,thank you so much for the encougement.
I am so happy it was a blessing to you! Thank you Joy!
I got a word this morning while meditating and I searched for it on the internet and found this write up, it really blessed me. I’ve read it all through twice because it kinda talking about me. Really nice thanks so much because it’s a great encouragement for me.
I am so happy it encouraged you Faith! I do love how God leads us to what we need right on time!