When God Breaks to Rebuild

Breaking is a process that sounds harsh, and some may question, “Why would God want me to go through that?” A God who is gracious, gentle, patient, kind, and loving? But when you truly understand the purpose and God’s heart behind the process of breaking, the question instead becomes, “Why would He not want me to go through that?”

However, let’s be real. When actually going through this process, it is difficult to see the beauty when things are ugly, the light when things are dark, and the purpose when there is pain. Breaking is pain. Breaking hurts. Breaking can be scary and even unbearable. Breaking can be a lot of things. But one thing I know is that it is necessary for each and every one of us.

The Breaking Process

Breaking is a process that takes place in the soul. What is the soul? Our mind, will, and emotions. Our mind includes our thoughts, understanding, memories, and perspectives of God, ourselves, and the world around us. Our will includes our motives, desires, choices, and behaviors. Our emotions are exactly that, what we feel: sadness, anger, anxiety, joy, and so forth.

Our experiences, whether good or bad, ultimately have a significant amount of influence on the state of our soul. When we have repeated experiences of pain, grief, loss, rejection, abandonment, and other traumas, it causes a tear in our soul. And vice versa, when we have good experiences, it brings healing to our soul.

Unfortunately, in this fallen world that is 100% occupied by imperfect human beings, experiencing a tear in the soul is pretty much inevitable. And I am sure you have heard it before, but I will say it again: hurt people hurt people. Sometimes the hurting is done knowingly and sometimes unknowingly, but regardless, it does not change the impact it had on your soul, because that experience and the pain that followed was a form of breaking.

But I want to make this as clear as possible. By no means was that the type of breaking God wanted you or wants you to experience. He does not intentionally hurt His children or set up ways for His children to be broken. The pain that happened to you, again, is because of the fallen world we live in.

But I will tell you the type of breaking that God wants to do and why He does it. He wants to break you to build you. He wants to tear down old walls, old ways of coping, old mindsets and habits, and completely renew your mind and your soul. God knows everything that transpired in your life and the impact it had on you, and His aim is to restore and redeem. Isn’t that what the gospel is all about? God redeeming us through His Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13-14).

God uses breaking only for our good. He breaks us in order to rebuild us and ultimately reveal His transformative power and glory to those around us, shedding light on His love, grace, mercy, and ability to heal our deepest part, the soul.

Why Breaking Is Necessary

Every story in the Bible reveals breaking that God used to build. Joseph was broken through betrayal, rejection, and isolation before God positioned him for purpose and leadership. Job was broken through devastating loss, grief, and suffering, yet God used that breaking to deepen his faith and reveal His sovereignty. The people of Israel were broken in the wilderness, in seasons of waiting, uncertainty, and dependence, so that God could strip away their old mindsets and teach them to trust Him fully. God did not waste their breaking. He used it to build, refine, restore, and position them for what was always part of His plan.

God wants to do the same for us in this season. He wants to go beneath the surface and sweep all the things out from under the rug. He wants to remove what we have used to conceal and survive for decades. He wants to break off lies of the enemy, strongholds, and all the things He never intended for us to carry. He wants to break to rebuild. Build our faith, endurance, spiritual maturity, character, and relationship with Him.

While outlining this blog and reflecting on my own seasons of breaking, I was led to think of an old home being rebuilt. Similar to rebuilding a home, you cannot simply decorate what is already cracked and unstable. No matter how beautiful it looks on the outside, if the foundation is weak, the structure will never be secure. The damaged foundation must be exposed. It must be torn down and rebuilt properly so that the home can stand firm and withstand future storms. In the same way, God is not interested in simply improving what is visible. He goes beneath the surface to rebuild the foundation of our soul. He removes what was weakened by pain, rejection, trauma, and false identities, and replaces it with truth, healing, and stability in Him. What God rebuilds is not fragile. It is firm, secure, and able to withstand what once would have broken you (Luke 6:47-49).

And the best part of breaking in the hands of God is that He does it gracefully and beautifully, as He knows you better than you know yourself. He does not leave you in the breaking. He is there by your side through every stage. Breaking in the hands of God is not destruction. It is reconstruction. He breaks what was built out of survival so He can rebuild what was always meant to stand in truth. What He rebuilds beneath the surface will not only heal you, but it will sustain you. And what once felt like the end will become the very place where your restoration begins.