Tag: contrite heart
A broken and contrite heart!
Scripture reading for June 12: Psalms 50-54
David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of his friend, Uriah, is recorded in scripture in 2nd Samuel 11-12. This was a dark blot on the life of a man that had walked closely with God for about 50 years. King David had decided to stay home from the war with Israel’s enemies to rest and relax. He let his eyes wander as his heart grew cold and ended up in bed with his neighbor’s wife. She became pregnant and David decided to try to frame his friend. When this didn’t work, he had his friend murdered!
Psalm 51 is the record of David’s confession and repentance from these sins. Both of these sins required that the perpetrators be stoned to death under God’s law. (Leviticus 20:10)(Leviticus 24:17) What is remarkable about King David’s confession of these sins, was that he considered them to be against God alone. God granted David forgiveness and grace under the law because of a broken and contrite heart!
A broken and contrite heart takes responsibility for sin. It admits to breaking God’s law instead of denial and blame of someone else or even God. (Psalm 51:3-5) David recognized that he was sinful from birth. We are born in sin because of Adam’s sin! We can only be delivered supernaturally by God’s mercy through Jesus Christ!
Jeremiah stated that the heart by human nature was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. (Jeremiah 17:9-11) God searches the hearts of men and knows the truth about what is in them. God wants to wash our hearts and cleanse them. David asked to be cleansed with hyssop. While in Egypt, the Israelites used hyssop branches to sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial lambs on the doorposts of their houses to keep the death angel from striking the first-born.
Broken hearts long for the joy and salvation that comes from God’s grace of forgiveness. (Psalm 51:9-12) All pride in human effort and ability is set aside and humility comes in it’s place. There is joy and a willing spirit to follow the Lord and be taught of Him. True brokenness leads to a life of humble service and witness for those who are forgiven much, love much. Out of this love they want to do God’s will and praise His Name! (Psalm 51:13-15)
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart , Oh God, You will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
Defusing Satan’s designs!
Scripture reading for September 19th: Isaiah 64-66, 2nd Corinthians 2
2nd Corinthians 2: 5-11 “Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure–not to put it too severely–to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
Paul wrote this second letter in part to this church family to encourage them to forgive a repentant brother that was under discipline as a result of serious sexual sin. (1st Corinthians 5) Paul and the church leadership had put this person out of the church for the destruction of his flesh that he might ultimately repent and be saved. Paul noted that this discipline process had worked and that now the church needed to forgive and restore this person. Satan’s design was to destroy this man and the church through strife and unforgiveness. In forgiving, the church would totally defuse any design of Satan to destroy anyone involved and spread the aroma of Christ’s mercy and restoration to many.
2nd Corinthians 2:14-16 “But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for giving us insight into Satan’s designs and traps and for protecting us through clear instructions in Your eternal Word. Help me to always forgive and restore those who are contrite and repentant and demonstrate the love and mercy of Your Son Jesus Christ. Allow the fragrance of Christ in me to spread the knowledge of Him everywhere.
Isaiah 66:1-2 “Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; what is the house that you would build for Me and what is My place of rest? All these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My Word.”
God looks at the heart!
Scripture reading for March 21st: 1st Samuel 16-19
Our culture prizes youth, beauty, intelligence, power, and money! We tend to judge people by what we see or know about their life. Where do they live? What kind of car do they drive? Are they handsome or beautiful? What position do they hold? Not much has changed since the fall of man. We are very driven by our senses and peer pressure, but God sees differently!
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance, or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1st Samuel 16:7)
God is looking for a heart after God, a heart that will trust God and live by faith in His Word! (2nd Chronicles 16:9) When we put God first, and not our “self”, He is pleased! He is looking for a “humble and contrite” heart. (Isaiah 66:2) He needs a heart that can be taught, corrected, and shaped for His habitation. God is looking for a pure heart too, for only those who are pure in heart can see God. (Matthew 5:8)
God Himself provided the way through a descendant of David, the man after God’s heart! Jesus Christ had the perfect heart! He was fully sold out to God. He did only what he saw His Father do and said only what He heard His father say! (John 5:19-20) Jesus was humble of heart–and wants to teach us the same! (Matthew 11:28-32) Jesus was pure of heart–completely without sin! Through Him, we can have a pure heart too! (1st John 1:9)
God still looks at the heart! Does He see Jesus Christ as Lord in your heart today? If He is not your King, why not humble yourself and invite Him to live in your heart today! You will be eternally grateful!
“The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:35-36)