Bend Me

 It has been a painful week in my journey with the Lord. A week of conviction, grief and repentance. Like a person bending a piece of wood or some hot metal to make it conform to the desired purpose, so has God bent me to shape me for His divine design. 

The bending process is painful. No doubt about it. I hate seeing my horrid sin before my eyes. No more did I confess and repent of one offence than the Lord pin pointed others. Like peeling the outer layers of an onion God peeled back layer after layer of blind spots, flaws, and unholy ways. Careless words. Pride. Unbelief. Impatience. The plow of His Spirit dug deep turning up the fallow ground of my soul. 

Bending is painful. The Master has purpose in the pain. Like a potter pushing, shaving, molding, sculpting and applying pressure for his purpose, so God does for us as well. His work in us is not in vain. He takes off some here and shaves off a little there. Unfortunately for people like me He takes the hammer and chisel to knock huge chunks off to make us vessels of honor. 

The pressure of bending is related to the resistance to what is being bent. O church, we need to be bendable. Submissive. Yielding to the pressure of His bending in our lives. That does not come naturally. The flesh likes to bow up in defiance. That just means God will apply more pressure bringing more pain. If we desire to get out from under the pain we need to be willing to bend. To submit to God. O Lord make us bendable for your purpose.