The Power in Being Broken
Excerpts from sermon #0203 by W.D. Frazee
Some of you have heard me tell the experience of Moody in London, but I must tell it again. Moody had not had what the world calls an education. He was a shoe clerk in a big city store. When the Lord found him, he started telling others, keeping on with his work as a shoe clerk. He would go out and gather in the urchins for Sunday School.
He kept on telling about Jesus until finally he was preaching to great crowds in Chicago and elsewhere. He was finally asked to come to London. The great singer Sankey was with him at this time.
When they got to London, the people who were arranging it had hired one of the greatest halls in the city. There was a royal box, and there sat the king and queen. There were other boxes where dukes and duchesses and earls were sitting in that great crowd in Central Park. The galleries were full. Sankey led out in a song service, singing and playing. It finally came time for Moody to speak.
Sankey was a polished gentleman, educated. Thank God Sankey was willing to be used. But Moody was uneducated. He got up and started reading his text.
Somehow the presence of that vast multitude unnerved him, and he... stumbled as he read his text. He started over again, trying to read, and again he stumbled. Sankey tried to help him out. The third time he started to read his text he stumbled again. With that he bowed his head on the desk, weeping.
He said, "Oh Lord, if you can use a poor uneducated man like me to speak to these people, then Lord, speak."
He then went ahead and spoke to those people as God gave him words. Within twenty minutes that audience of thousands were in tears. The king and queen of England in the royal box were weeping, and God gave Moody the hearts of those people.
Why? Because he was willing to be a little man handling a great subject. He was willing to be broken if need be before those people.
We are too anxious to avoid being broken. We are too anxious that all men should speak well of us, forgetting that Jesus said, "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers of the false prophets." We need the sense of intimacy with Jesus that will make us willing to walk the humble road that begins at Bethlehem and leads to Calvary.
"Through the history of God's people great mountains of difficulty, apparently insurmountable, have loomed up before those who were trying to carry out the purposes of Heaven. Such obstacles are permitted by the Lord as a test of faith. When we are hedged about on every side, this is the time above all others to trust in God and in the power of His Spirit. Before the demand of faith, the obstacles placed by Satan across the pathway of the Christian will disappear; for the powers of heaven will come to his aid. 'Nothing shall be impossible to you.'" Matthew 17:20. "The way of the world is to begin with pomp and boasting" Prophets and Kings, pages 594-595.
Isn't that wonderful? Friends, if you will allow me to put it this way: if men had been arranging things and Jesus was to be born in this world, do you know how men would have arranged it? The press agents and public relations men would have arranged it so it would have happened at Jerusalem, and all the royalty would have been there, or seen it on television. Don't you know it?
But when Jesus was born, He was born in a tiny little village called Bethlehem, and there wasn't even a room for His mother in the inn. He had to be born in a stable. The only people who came to visit that night were some humble shepherds.
Some people would not have thought that a very auspicious beginning, but it was heaven's way.
"The way of the Lord is to make small things the beginning of triumph and truth and righteousness. Sometimes He trains His workers by bringing to them disappointment and apparent failure. It is His purpose that they shall learn to master difficulties. Often men are tempted to falter before the perplexities and obstacles that confront them. But if they will hold the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end, God will make the way clear" Ibid.
By God's grace, I propose to do it. What do you say?
"Success will come to them as they struggle against difficulties. Before the intrepid spirit and unwavering faith of a Zerubbable, great mountains of difficulty will become a plain: and he whose hands have laid the foundation, even `his hands shall also finish it.' `He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, grace unto it.'" Ibid.
I thank God for this. There is another reason we must learn it. Ahead of us is the great crisis, and it is not very far ahead either. I read these important words:
"At the time when the danger and depression of the church are greatest, the little company who are standing in the light will be sighing and crying for the abominations that are done in the land. But more especially will their prayers arise in behalf of the church because its members are doing after the manner of the world. The earnest prayers of this faithful few will not be in vain" Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 209.
