By Kevin Harris, pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Wollongong, NSW
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Psalm 51:17
The Hebrew word for broken in this verse means ‘to burst.’ Found in 145 verses, this word speaks of broken bones, broken trees, broken doors, broken images, broken clay pots, and broken teeth. When Moses threw the tables of stone which contained the Ten Commandments, those tablets were broken.
The word contrite means ‘to collapse.’
God sometimes wants our hearts to hurt.
Ever since man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, there has been in every human being a nature that is self-willed, independent, self-admiring and self-exalting. If it could, it would depose God from His throne and instal itself as king or queen of the universe. But with more than 8.1 billion people competing for that throne, conflict breaks out. This explains why there are so many divorces and wars. It all comes down to the self-centredness of mankind, and God hates it.
God has many tools to cause our self-centredness to collapse and break down. Sometimes He uses the guilt of our sin, as was the case of King David in this psalm. Other times He deflates us with an illness, or a disability, an accident, an injustice, or a loss of someone or something dear.
Note the last four words of the verse. It’s when we are broken and contrite, stripped of pride, humbled and abased, that the Lord is pleased. No longer vying for His throne, we are happy to take our place under Him.
God lovingly hurts me for my good and His glory.
Father, help me to die to self. Lead me to self-abasement that confesses my sin and seeks Your mercy. Thank You for the wonderful forgiveness of my sin through the blood of the Lord Jesus. Help me to stay in my place under Your Headship that I may please You. Replace my deluded thoughts of self-grandeur with meditations on Your true grandeur. I ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
This article was written by Kevin Harris Dapto pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church.