A CONTRITE HEART!

Saturday, August 31, 2019

A CONTRITE HEART!

Ps 34:18

18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

           The word “contrite” is found five times in our Bible and all of those times in the Old Testament. It is found twice in the Psalms and three times in the book of Isaiah. Four times the word is translated from the Hebrew word dakka (dak-kaw’) which means “crushed; literally powder.” Once, in Isaiah 66:2, it is translated from the Hebrew word nakeh which means “smitten, maimed, or dejected.”

           Too often I see what is declared to be repentance but I do not see brokenness. I often hear how sin happened or why sin happened but I rarely see one broken because sin happened. I am urged to sympathize with the sinner because of the circumstances that caused the sin. I am to blame the circumstance and, therefore, exonerate the sinner. He is not guilty, you see, it is the horrible set of circumstances that caused the sin.

           If revival is to come, contrition must come first. God wants to break us like a hammer breaks ore so that the gold inside might be beaten out. We are reminded of Jer 23:29 which says: “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” The broken heart, and the contrite spirit, are two essential characteristics of true repentance.

Ps 139:23-24

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Dear Lord, let me not excuse myself by focusing on the circumstances that caused my sin. Let me be crushed to powder and wounded in spirit because of my sin. Let me run into your waiting arms. AMEN