“…a broken and contrite heart, O God You will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
A personal question we need to ask often is “what do you want from me Lord?” The reason for this or a similar worded question is we often lose our way in our walk with the Lord, no matter how long we have been on the pathway of faith in Jesus Christ. We lose our way by being too occupied with man’s standards at the expense of having right thoughts and attitude toward God’s standards. In our cultural environment that exudes success, power and achievement, we end up thinking that the Lord wants these kinds of things from us as well.
We often transfer these cultural standards to our to understanding of how church should be, how we should be as Christians and how the Lord wants us to operate. But that is very wrong. The ability to powerfully communicate may be beneficial, just like successful church programs may be a blessing.
But are these the kind of things that top the Lord’s list of what He wants from us?
The answer? No! What the Lord wants has no place for human achievement based on prideful endeavours! He wants and longs for our brokenness. The Lord looks for the person who has a broken and contrite spirit. This is what Jesus also said in His sermon on the mount. “Blessed are the poor is spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mtt 5:3) Whether we are reserved or unreserved, witty or gloomy, when we come to the Word of God with a heart that trembles, that is, when we rid ourselves of all pride and self, acknowledging our spiritual bankruptcy in and of ourselves and seek God’s enabling alone - that’s brokenness!
God wants us to be constantly aware that we are totally dependent on His grace for both our physical and spiritual lives in Christ. That’s what the Lord will never despise!