A BROKEN SPIRIT AND HEART

Psalm 51:1-19 NLT

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. 

[2] Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. 

[3] For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. 

[4] Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. 

[5] For I was born a sinner- yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 

[6] But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. 

[7] Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. [8] Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me- now let me rejoice. 

[9] Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 

[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. 

[11] Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. 

[12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. 

[13] Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. 

[14] Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness. 

[15] Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you. 

[16] You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. [17] The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. [18] Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. [19] Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit- with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.


A broken spirit and heart signify the depression and decay that stem from the world around us and the unrepentant lives we lead. However, God loves us and desires for us to turn away from the path that leads to death and follow His way that leads to life. God wants us to be humble in spirit, reverent, and to love His word, which contains the truth.

A contrite heart means recognizing our sinfulness and brokenness, being humble and teachable. Contriteness is the sorrowful and repentant state of a person, hitting rock bottom and realizing that only God can turn things around for us. Being crushed, bruised, and broken is a prerequisite for needing healing, forgiveness, and transformation.

When David recognized the enormity of his sin with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11, 12:1-15 and his attempted cover-up that ended with her husband’s death, he cried out to God in deep repentance. Verse 17 records his heartfelt prayers and what he had learned about how God wants to be approached.

Why does God value a contrite heart of sacrifice more than the burnt offerings He had commanded under the Old Covenant? Because the place of contrition is a blessed place to be. God says in Isaiah 57:15 that He is with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit. The contrite are promised a dwelling place with God. Their broken hearts will be revitalized.

A contrite heart does not take the forgiveness of God for granted. It is grieved over its sin and what it cost the Son of God says 2 Corinthians 5:21. Without a contrite heart, we are like the proud Pharisees, going through the motions of religion but harbouring arrogance in our hearts. Contrition agrees that a heart intent on following Christ must reject evil in all its forms. A contrite heart seeks the strength of God to overcome sin and move on toward holiness according to 1 Peter 1:15–16.

We must understand that God does not deal with the proud and lofty but the humble (1 Peter 5:5). He wants us to be repentant. A hard heart, like Pharaoh who enslaved the Israelites and wouldn’t let them go, is resistant to God. Exodus tells us six times that Pharaoh had a “hard” heart. Even in the face of the evidence of God’s great power through the 10 plagues, again and again, Pharaoh’s heart grew hard in Exodus 7:13.

Ezekiel 11:19 tells us that God wants to remove our stony hearts and give us a fleshy, repentant one. Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17 warns of self-sufficiency and pride, the hallmarks of a heart that’s lifted. Nebuchadnezzar is an example of one whose “heart was lifted, and his spirit was hardened in pride” in Daniel 5:20.

Is your heart lifted, hardened, and too stony to acknowledge your sin and need for repentance and dependence on God? Are you proud of your achievements and taking credit without honouring the Father for His mercy, favour, and grace? God does not want us to have what Psalm 101:4 calls a perverse heart, a proud heart in Psalm 101:5, a wicked heart in Proverbs 26:23, a defiant and rebellious heart in Jeremiah 5:23, a sinful heart in Jeremiah 17:1, a deceitful heart in Proverbs 17:20, a desperately wicked heart  in Jeremiah 17:9, an adulterous heart in Ezekiel 6:9, a hard and impenitent heart in Romans 2:5, a veiled heart in 2 Corinthians 3:15, or an evil and unbelieving heart in Hebrews 3:12.

God’s gift of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit cleanses our hearts and begins the process of changing them spiritually. If we approach God contritely, He can create in us pure and sound hearts that will rejoice evermore.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank you for being long-suffering towards me, I humbly beseech you to have mercy on me for all my unfaithfulness in Jesus’ name, amen.

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/womenoflight/episodes/A-BROKEN-SPIRIT-AND-HEART-e2r6pp1

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SHALOM


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