“The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Who would want to read something with a title like that? If you are one who would, you have gotten this far. Stick with me and the title will make sense and will leave you in a better mood than the title promises. This is not a condition that we would normally want, but there are times that we need this condition to move on to joyfulness. We learn here that God draws close to those who are broken-hearted and contrite. (At least we draw near to Him and find Him already there.) The point is that the Lord responds to our repentance. He does not want us to go merrily on our way in our sins, ignoring our sinful condition. Sin is a big deal to God. We need to frankly feel sorrow for sin in our hearts. These are the moments that we feel close to God because we realize our need for Him – especially at these times. Sin should break our hearts. For example, when we feel such hatred for a person that we rejoice when they fall on hard times, or when we get back at them in some way. There is really no joyful satisfaction in any sin. Our sin should cause us to… well… feel guilty until we surrender our hearts in repentance to God. David, who wrote this psalm, fully understood this sorrow. Our sins should cause contrition in our hearts. It is in this contrition that we feel closer to Christ, and when we experience His love on the deepest level. Sin does not draw us closer to Him. I like the interpretation of this verse in the Amplified Bible: “God is close to those who are….crushed with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent.” I know that there are many causes for depression, but I think that sin that has not been repented of is a root cause of a lot of depression. Maybe it is time in your life to be “crushed with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent.” Sin pulls us down and causes self-loathing. This is not how the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to live, because He gave His life on the cross to relieve us of this sin burden. We need to feel sorrow for sin that will lead us to repent and seek the forgiveness that Jesus so readily gives. David gave us guidance for this in Psalm 51:16-17: “For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise.” God is not looking for outward religious devotion on our part; rather, He wants us to really experience sorrow for sin and come to Him for the only place that forgiveness is found. Do it! Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|