The condition of the soul that has been shattered of its self-sufficiency and pride before God — a holy despairing of one's own strength, righteousness, and resources, leading to total dependence on God. Brokenness is not mere emotional pain or victimhood; it is a spiritual state that God prizes above sacrifice (Ps. 51:17) and that opens the soul to divine grace. The Lord "is near to the brokenhearted" (Ps. 34:18) and "dwells with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit" (Isa. 57:15). Brokenness is the doorway to genuine repentance, revival, and restoration.
BRO'KENNESS, n. The state of being broken. The brokenness of one's heart implies contrition — a state of deep sorrow for sin, accompanied with humiliation before God. Webster noted "a broken heart" as the figurative condition of contrition, which God does not despise (Psalm 51:17).
Modern therapeutic culture has redefined brokenness as trauma-inflicted victimhood — a wound to be healed through affirmation and self-care, rather than a divine work of grace leading to repentance. This removes God from the equation entirely. Conversely, charismatic Christianity has sometimes turned "brokenness" into a performative emotional experience detached from actual repentance and behavior change. True biblical brokenness is neither victimhood nor emotional theater — it is the crushing of self-sufficiency before the holy God that produces lasting transformation.
Psalm 51:17 — "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."
Psalm 34:18 — "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."
Isaiah 57:15 — "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly."
Matthew 5:3 — "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Luke 15:17–20 — "But when he came to himself… he arose and came to his father." (The prodigal's brokenness leads to restoration.)
H7665 — שָׁבַר (shābar) — to break, shatter; used of a broken heart before God in Psalm 51:17
H1793 — דַּכָּא (dakkāʾ) — crushed, contrite; the specific quality of spirit that God esteems
H6041 — עָנִי (ʿānî) — humble, afflicted, poor in spirit; those whom God vindicates
G4434 — πτωχός (ptōchos) — poor, destitute, crouching beggar; "poor in spirit" in the Beatitudes
"David's brokenness after his sin with Bathsheba was not the end of his story but the beginning of his restoration — God uses the broken vessel."
"There is no genuine revival in the history of the church that was not preceded by corporate brokenness and repentance before God."
"Brokenness is not weakness — it is the courageous honesty of a soul that has stopped pretending before an all-seeing God."