God's Kind of Heart

Psalm 51:17 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."

broken - shabar (shaw-bar') - to burst, to break into small pieces where the inner parts are exposed

contrite - dakah (daw-kaw) - to pulverize to mere dust; to crush; has the picture of reducing to the consistency to talcum powder

despise - bazah (baw-zaw') - put to shame; take away esteem

Have you ever watched your kids get caught at something and there was that "moment"? You know, the "moment" when they are deciding which is the best way to go - give you that innocent "kid" smile or that "ok I'm caught, now what?" look! King David had those very choices himself when he make unwise choices, tried to hide himself and then came full circle back to the bare truth that he had sinned "against God and God alone". (Ps 51:4). While our kids may or may not understand that, I believe the sooner we all learn it, the sooner we will come to love the "wonder" of brokenness.

This study is not about the sin or the repentance. It's about the work that God does after repentance (or right along with it). True repentance brings out a God given desire to "make it right" or somehow "do" something. God doesn't necessarily want those kinds of "sacrifices". What He loves to watch, with full loving, no shame acceptance, is a broken and contrite heart.

The heart, being the place of understanding and emotion, is where God loves to work. Being broken by Him involves having large or small issues be exposed to the light of His love. Remember, He doesn't dismantle our dignity - He has placed us in His Son, Christ Jesus. But He does want every part of our being flooded with His light. He does want our depravity exposed. That's where the Holy Spirit lovingly nudges and breaks into the hidden areas exposing the need for Him. We are not meant to be left hanging there exposed though. Thus, the next step of having a "contrite" heart.

"Contrite" has to do with being the consistency of a fine powder. Have you ever seen talcum powder? You know how fine it is? Originally, it was made from a rock yet pulverized to very fine powder. That "pulverizing" is a picture of the word "contrite". Now the purpose of being contrite is not to lose our identity. The chemical makeup (DNA) of the rock was the same whether in a rock form or a fine powder form. The difference was that the powder can stand on the surface of the water. It is pliable and much more conformable as talc than as a rock. The picture of a contrite person is one that has not lost his identity (I am still a child of the living God). But, he's one that has given all his "rights" and "ownership" to the surface of the place on which he rests (or floats)! Of course, we are IN Christ Jesus! We are not our own, we are bought with a price. It's the ultimate picture of "rest"! Who I am, rests completely on the plane of who He is. When I start walking in my own understanding - I sink like a rock!

Do you have a little different picture of entering in to His rest?

Oh awesome Father,
For every reader of this study, I pray for such hunger to be broken and contrite before You. We want to know the joy of seeing Your face looking at us without one hint of shame. More than anything, I pray that each of us will experience the "wonder" of rest in You. Truly Father, in You we live and move and have our being! Because of You, I say . . . Amen!