365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 108: God Who Breaks

God Who Breaks

"The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD at their head." (Micah 2:13 NIV)

The first time my husband's maternal grandmother saw the 100-year-old barn that came with our 100-year-old house, I was starting to tell her, "We're going to fix it up soon" but had only gotten out "we're going to..." before she filled in, "Tear it down?"

Her assumption was understandable: the barn did look pretty broken.

With human eyes, we see tearing down as a sign of defeat, but in God's game-plan, what is torn down often clears the way for greater victory. What is broken down often opens the way to greater freedom.

Altars to made-up gods are broken down so that God the Maker can be worshiped (Exodus 23:24).

False strongholds are torn down so that the true Stronghold can be sought (Micah 5:11).

Pride is broken down so that humility can be born (Leviticus 26:19).

And the greatest example of breaking and tearing: Christ on the cross. At the moment of His final breaking—when His sinless body was torn from the top of His thorn-pierced head to the bottom of his nail-pierced feet—the curtain of the temple was also torn from top to bottom, breaking down once and for all the barrier between us and God (Matthew 27:50,51).

Oh, beloved of the Lord, if you feel as though something in you is being torn or broken down today, hold onto this promise that restoration is on the other side of the rubble:

"The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated" (Isaiah 61:1, 4).