Food for ThoughtPsalm 51:17 Contrite Heart
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

By Marni Montanez

Psalm 51:17 New Revised Standard Version

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

A contrite heart is a heart that is tender and pliable.   This place of brokenness is bittersweet.  It strips away all the pretenses and hindrances that mask our real selves.  It is the mirror of truth reflecting an honesty that is raw and holds us up to the light of transparency.

Jesus was broken beyond measure when He was whipped and beaten then nailed to the cross.  His brokenness was life giving to those who accepted His sacrifice and confessed Him as our Lord and Savior.

His brokenness opened the doors of heaven;  our brokenness sheds the cloak of the flesh and dresses us in the clothes of true worship and praise to God.

John 4:24 (HCSB)

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

When we sacrifice our hearts to God it is in our free will to offer Him our complete surrender where we can praise Him with total abandon.

1 Corinthians 6:17 (AMPC)

But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him

this invites us into a process of dying to oneself so that our union with God through Christ Jesus will be unbreakable.    

God loves a surrendered heart; a heart that is crushed and broken and a self will that dies.  This is when God knows He has full control to bless us in ways we could never think possible.  

Psalm 116:15 (KJV)

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

God loves us so much that He wants our hearts to be completely surrendered to Him, because only He knows the incredible future He has planned for us.  This future involves being close to Him with all abandon, which will give us true joy and peace.

Challenge:   It will take the hand of God to bring you to a place of brokenness.  In this place,  draw near to God and trust Him to walk with you through the process.  Yes, it is painful, but God is faithful. Yes, it is sometimes frightening, but remember that fear is based on lies we are believing that keep us from being totally free.    

God bless

Marni

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lamb-rightThe purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.