Friday 5 April 2024

Broken and Contrite Hearts

  



Scripture:  Psalm 51 v 17: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."

Luke 4 v 18 - 19: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."


When we first come to God full of sin, misery and hurt, He searches our heart to see if we really want the life He is offering.  He knows there are some who are just looking for a quick fix pain-killer - it just offloads guilt  temporarily so they may  go and sin again. 

"People take salvation today in such a cold, formal, matter-of-fact, business-like sort of way, that it appears as though they are doing God an honor in condescending to receive His offer of Redemption. 

Their eyes are dry, their sense of sin absent; nor is there any sign of penitence and contrition... But oh, if there were conviction! if they came with hearts bowed down, yea! broken and contrite, came with the cry of the guilt-laden soul: "God be merciful to me a sinner!" - came trembling with the burning life and death question of the Philippian jailor: "What must I do to be saved ?"--what converts they would be!"
- Oswald J. Smith

But if we were to approach God through our brokenness and offer Him the shattered fragments of our lives how acceptable that would be!  We lived without Jesus as our Saviour and Redeemer, but now He can shape us into a person who truly loves Him.

Brokenness was much written about by Watchman Nee, a true martyr of our faith at the hands of Chinese communism in the 1950's. He knew our hard unyielding stubborn souls needed to be broken.   It would allow the pure essence of our spirit to flow forth and minister the grace of Jesus to others.

Watchman Nee likened it to the woman who anointed Jesus' feet in  Luke 7 v 36-50. She broke open an alabaster or marble box filled with a precious perfumed ointment and poured it over His feet and washed his feet in her tears, drying them with her hair.

She was a terrible sinner but through this outpouring of her heart and soul, which was highlighted by the breaking of the alabaster box, Jesus told her that her sins were forgiven.

Jesus also criticized Simon the Pharisee whose house he was in, for objecting to this sinful woman touching Him. Even though it was only in his thoughts that it was wrong, Jesus discerned what was in his mind and heart. He contrasted the humility of this woman's brokenness with the Pharisee's hard unbroken heart. 

You cannot feign brokenness. It is a condition that brings you to the Cross of Jesus and keeps you in His love forever. You will sacrifice every worldly pleasure to remain at His feet within His intimate circle. You will do anything to please Him and receive His blessing.

Brokenness is not something to run and hide from. It is what we all need - to lose our pride, and arrogant independence which walls us into our own selfish world. Once that hardness is broken we can touch the heart of people in need, knowing their pain as if it were our own.  

This is necessary for true intercessory prayer. Jesus is our High Priest and Intercessor. An intercessor is one who takes the place of another; who stands in the gap between God and man. The gap is created by sinful behaviour and prayer is needed to bring the wayward one back to the Father.

If we are still hard of heart we are like a horse that is unbroken. You can't do anything with that horse until it yields and allows a saddle and bridle to be put on it. Like us. We need to yield to Jesus so He can control our lives to bring us into line with God's will for us. 

Our Father needs us to be contrite or remorseful concerning our bad behaviour.  Just as a judge or magistrate will hand down a more lenient sentence if the offender is sorry for his deeds.

Paul spoke to the Corinthians about it in 2 Corinthians 7 v 9 - 11: "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 
10  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11  For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter."

So if you have been through some shattering experiences it could be the hand of the Lord and not a satanic attack. Remember Jeremiah 18 v 1-12 the story of the potter and his wheel.

V 4: "And the vessel he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it."

Note that the marred vessel of clay had to be smashed and remoulded into a new vessel. The clay had no say in what it would become. This is what Jesus needs from all of us. Stop telling Him what you want to be. He has much greater ideas for you than that!


Prayer: Heavenly Father I yield myself to Your perfect will for my life. Let me not be stubborn and hard in self will and disobedience but rather soft and pliable in Your hands. Please take my broken and contrite heart and mould it the way You want me to be.  In Jesus' name. Amen.