For about a year, we lived with a broken ice maker in our refrigerator. The ice maker worked, but it wouldn’t dispense the ice as it should. Most things that are broken we just throw away without a second thought, and then there are some things that are broken that we just live with. We throw broken things away because they lose their usefulness when they are broken. God, on the other hand, is not that way. Oftentimes He waits until we are broken before we become useful to Him. You can be broken over sin or you can be broken over an act of denying the Lord around others. You can be broken over the sin of others. You can be broken over the lost condition of the world. The brokenness that makes us useful and is actually a blessing comes from an attitude of heart that expresses complete lostness without Christ. It’s an attitude that recognizes our total dependence on Him. It’s the attitude Jesus promoted when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” —Matthew 5:3 There is a blessing in our brokenness. It may sound strange, but brokenness produces a greater longing for God like nothing else. When you long for someone, you desperately want to be with them. Mary Magdalene was broken standing and weeping outside of the empty tomb. Jesus had delivered her from seven demons, and from that point on, her life was wrapped up in His life, but in that moment, He was gone. Can you imagine how messed up her life was until Jesus delivered her? Now she was hopelessly stuck without Christ. This is a picture of what it looks like to be broken before God, desperately longing for Him. Praise God that He is not unresponsive to our longings for Him. The very moment you begin to move towards God, He begins to move towards you. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” —James 4:8. Nothing else will draw God towards you like a broken heart longing for His presence. Brokenness produces a desperate longing God responds to by drawing near. Jesus didn’t just draw near to Mary, but He revealed Himself to Mary at the empty tomb. The longing of your heart will draw God near, and He delights in revealing Himself to you. This is what He wants for us. He wants us to recognize Him even though we might not initially. Mary thought He was the gardener at first. But when He called her name, “Mary,” she knew it was Him. Don’t you know God wants to reveal Himself to those who are longing for Him? Is that you? The blessing of being broken is seeing God! Mary went and told the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” This should be the words of believers today, “I have seen the Lord.” But that declaration only comes from those who are broken. You may see God in general like in nature or in the way other people act, but when you have an encounter with Him like Mary did, you will become a witness for Him who says, “I have seen the Lord!” When was the last time you said that to someone? When was the last time your encounter with God was so personal that you began to tell others like Mary did? Oh, how we need a revival of brokenness that produces a longing for our God. The next time you see something broken, be reminded of the heart God blesses.