Use the right glue

September 11, 2006

By William E. Richardson

“I am like a broken vessel” (Psalm 31:12, NKJV).

A spider scared Little Miss Muffet, Jack and Jill tumbled down a hill, and Humpty Dumpty fell off a wall to shatter into pieces. Sometimes real life can feel strangely similar to a nursery rhyme.

All is going well for you when suddenly something you would never have imagined is happening. To you. Something you either thought happened only to others or hoped never happened to anyone. You turned a corner in your spiritual or emotional life to find yourself tumbling down a steep hill or falling off a wall, either way feeling like you’ve landed into fragments.

It isn’t your shell that needs help; it’s who you are on the inside. You believe that, unlike Humpty Dumpty, you’ll eventually be repaired. Eventually. You trust God to help you, but you expect it could be a long process. There’s always the question “Where do I start?”

As a Christian you’ll pray, but you know that one prayer won’t mend all your fractures. You contemplate additional ways to get yourself back together. You’ve always been curious about your horoscope. A friend has endorsed listening to the advice of a TV personality who seems more New Age than Christian. Someone else tells you a little alcohol now and then helps him relax. You consider these and other options.

What do you really need right now? Like torn or broken things you’ve personally restored, when you feel broken you need the right glue. Glue made for paper isn’t strong enough to mend wood. Wood glue won’t repair metal. You know that anything but the right adhesive will pale as a less-than-what’s needed substitute. It won’t meet the need.

It’s the same in our lives. The well-phrased, hope-inducing words of a New Age TV guru, or the assuring comments from a telephone psychic, or the soothing effect of an alcoholic beverage are all less than you need. They’re all substitutes! All are counterfeit glue, not made to mend your brokenness. For many, those and other substitutes have served only to increase their emotional and spiritual fragmentation.

The only glue that’ll really put your world back together is the incomparable glue of God’s love and grace. No, a single prayer won’t do it; you need a series of prayers. You may need a klatch of prayer partners.

Instead of reading some from the Bible each day, you may need a Scripture memory plan to redirect your thoughts. It might help to build a small library of Christian books on a topic or two pertinent to your brokenness. They’re all aspects of the one glue you really need.

Have you been considering any glues that are highly promoted, yet really too weak for your repair needs? The first step to a return to wholeness is to pray that God will prevent you from choosing unwisely. That He’ll help you recognize all the substitutes for exactly what they are. Then you’re ready to seek God’s step-by-step guidance for true repair.

You may feel today like Humpty Dumpty, but by trusting God’s perfect glue instead of substitutes, you’ll eventually be put back together again.

William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton (Iowa) Assembly of God.