When Brokenness Becomes Strength

Lessons from Judges for a weary heart and a weary nation

Beloved Friend,

I have been sitting with this portion of Judges for days, letting it tug gently at my heart. Last week I told you I would share another lesson from my study, and this one stayed with me in a deeper way than I expected.

You know how life sometimes throws a kind of darkness at a community that cannot be ignored. Something so grievous that everyone senses that silence would be a betrayal. That was what happened in Gibeah. A woman was brutally violated and left to die, and the news tore through Israel like a wound. It was the kind of evil that makes a nation stop and ask itself who it is becoming. They gathered together because they knew this could not be brushed aside. Something had to be addressed.

Yet, even in their sincerity, something interesting happened. They asked the Lord who should go first into battle and they obeyed. Judah went as instructed. Still, they suffered loss. They asked again. And again there was loss. It was not because God was absent. It was because Israel was present in strength but not yet present in brokenness. They came ready to fight but not ready to bow.

It was only when they wept. When they fasted. When they offered sacrifices. When they finally stopped standing tall and chose to kneel. That was when God handed the victory to them with ease. Not because He changed His mind but because their posture finally aligned with His heart.

I think this is one of the hardest parts of walking with God. We inquire. We obey and step out in confidence. Then life hits us in a way that feels unfair. It feels like loss in the place where obedience should have brought triumph. What if loss is sometimes God’s gentle way of revealing that we are moving with our feet but not with our hearts. What if He loves us too much to let us win without being transformed.

This is where the lesson becomes personal.

Many times, when we are tired or discouraged or confused, we assume that what we need is a quick answer or an instant rescue. Meanwhile, what God is quietly calling us into is brokenness. Not the kind that crushes identity but the kind that softens resistance. The kind that melts pride. That is the posture where victory is born.

Israel won nothing until they cried. Until they humbled themselves. Until they admitted that battle strategies and united tribes would never replace dependence. Brokenness did not weaken them. It positioned them.

Beloved Friend, this has been on my heart especially because of the atmosphere in our nation right now. Nigeria feels heavy. People are tired. Insecurity is on the rise. Hopes shake. News drains. It is easy to believe that prayers are no longer working. It is easy to feel like Israel before the breakthrough. Trying but discouraged. Fighting but losing.

However, the absence of immediate results is not the absence of God. Loss is not abandonment.

If anything, this is the moment to stay on our knees. This is the moment to remain tender before Him. This is the moment to refuse hardness. Hope grows in hearts that are still willing to break before God. A nation can be healed. A land can be restored. But God does His deepest work through people who refuse to give up praying. People who refuse to let discouragement be the final voice. People who remember that the God who delivered Israel after their tears is the same God watching over us now.

Victory is coming. Our duty is to stay prayerful and yielded.

With thoughts of kindness

ABBA’s Shofar