The prayer that every spirit of backwardness may be broken is heard, but let us look well to the breaking. There are broken bones that must be made to rejoice, yet it is a sad thing to have had them broken at all, there is never the same freedom afterward. Better, far better, to walk in daily conformity with the Divine mind, lest a break come that leaves the soul damaged for life. The broken column stands as a solemn emblem of resolutions snapped short by a “but.” Many have looked ready to follow, yet one heavy blow from the withering hand of sin broke their purpose clean off. Pray rather that your column may not be broken, but that the Lord would complete your course with unbroken perseverance.
Yet if you feel the weight of broken fences, where the stone wall of character has crumbled and left you open to every evil, be wise enough to wake up and seek the repair that comes from above. The Lord, not occasionally but always, must be your keeper. Where barriers have been broken down by spiritual sloth, arise and rebuild, not by your own strength, but casting yourself upon Him who breaks down the greater barrier of self-righteousness. When every link of our own chain has melted and we have absolutely nothing to bring before God, we are exactly the ones Christ came to save. He thrusts out our enemies before us, and we have but to follow where He leads.
Concerning favor and new doors: it is exactly when He turns in a way of grace to His people that He comes with all His soul, heartily and richly displaying His love. Such favor is not earned but bestowed, streaming from that sacred box of precious ointment broken on the Cross, its merit extends to earth’s utmost bound. And here is a special mercy: you may appropriate a portion of Divine goodness as peculiarly your own. Advance in the Divine life comes by this personal grasp of covenant mercy, treasured up for you before the first parent broke the covenant of works, the Lamb slain from before the foundations of the world.
Do not rest in anything short of a Divine assurance. In Jesus Christ there is peace for the guilty soul; a word from the God of Peace can lift from a tempest of distress into perfect calm in an instant. But peace may be broken through great trouble if faith is not strong. It need not be so. Hear the voice that speaks peace to His people, and go forward with stern, unflinching purpose, condemning to death the darling sin that would bar your progress. The faith once delivered to the saints is all the more attractive because it is called narrow, I am weary of that breadth which comes of broken hedges. Walk in the narrow way of obedience, believing that He who healed every broken bone will yet make you rejoice, and that the God of your mercy shall prevent you with His favor.