Broken and Contrite

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart  you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:17 NIV

God does not look down his nose when He sees our feeble attempts as we try to do what feels good for us in this life, but all the while only succeed at making everything worse for ourselves, and those around us. Even those we love dearly. We are fortunate to have a God who loves us in spite of ourselves, and “...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. Of course our God is not only a God of Love, He requires justice too. Micah 6:8 says: “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” So let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

When we get into trouble, yes even of our own doing, God will step in when we show two essential characteristics in our heart. Our heart must be ‘broken AND contrite”. We have all suffered from a broken heart, and God knows we have. That alone is not enough to make the sacrifice God Needs. He needs us to be contrite too. This means expressing remorse and guilt at our sin. We need to show repentence of our wrongdoing, even while we are broken. Not easy, and certainly not possible to fake before a Holy God.

When we have a broken AND contrite heart, and only then, will our God, our Abba Father, step in and accept our sacrifice. That sacrifice will NOT be despised, but it must be full and genuine. Not a pale imitation, and not a lie. So, no matter what has broken your spirit, take it to God in earnest prayer, and mean it. He will not let you down, and your heart is guaranteed to heal, slowly but surely. We have God’s Word on it. I like this promise, because let’s be honest, we have all suffered from a broken heart at some time in our life.