"My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."
{Psalm 51:17} (NIV)
Many, many people have made the mistake of thinking that God is a God who delights in sacrifice. We can start to think that God gets something out of animals being killed, that He is sort of bloodthirsty or something, and we forget the purpose of the sacrifice. David reminds us that the purpose of the sacrifice is to restore our relationship with God.
The temple of God is not a marketplace, where we know before we sin, what it will cost us and are prepared to pay the price. The sacrifice reminds us that the price of sin is death and destruction, which is a price that we cannot pay. God graciously, in a covenant of love set up a sacrificial system, so that the price we can’t pay could be paid on our behalf. The sacrifice only happens because we deserve death because of our sin. If we weren’t sinners a sacrifice would be unnecessary.
David knows that a sacrifice offered by a person who is planning to sin again in their heart, is an insult to God, and negates the sacrifice. What God desires is a broken heart, a heart that doesn’t want to sin again, a heart that is genuinely sorry for their sin. God sees our hearts, and knows our attitude as we come before Him and ask for forgiveness based on the sacrifice and blood of His Son, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Friend, this is so important for each of us. May God break us. May He break our hearts over our sins. May we bring before Him a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Forgive us Lord, forgive us.
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