KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 8:17, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 51.17, Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 66.1-2

RELEVANCE

You've done something contrary to the Lord and repented with a broken heart. Two days later, you find yourself doing that same wrong thing again, despite your former sorrow. You think to yourself, "What is happening? How can I be doing this again?" 

The Christian is called to be led by the Spirit into a relationship so deep and bound by love that God deems us joint heirs of the eternal Kingdom with His Son, Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:14-17) 

But, as scripture tells us, we are only glorified with Him if we suffer with Him.

Christ's heart enabled Him to commit to and endure the suffering of the Cross on our behalf. How do we get the same heart of personal sacrifice so considerate of God and others that to think of ourselves seems like a sin? 

The answer may be in the word contrite. 

Psalm 34:18  The Lord is NIGH unto them that are of a broken heart; and SAVETH such as be of a contrite spirit.

We can have a broken heart that is sorry for its sins—sorry enough that the Lord is indeed near us, waiting to celebrate our return to fellowship or relationship. But unless our spirit has handed over every ounce of defiance in that repentance, we will be like the dog who returns to its vomit.

Despite all our crying, the Lord cannot save us completely, as that defiance will lead us back to the prodigal swill from whence we came. It means we still have enough pride and self-centredness to keep us fastened to the revolving door of sin, repentance and sin. 

What is a contrite heart? 

Looking at Strongs concordance, we see some important meanings. H1793 Crushed, powder, dashed in pieces. 

2 Kings 23:15 shows us that King Josiah crushed the idols to powder, completely annihilating them. They could not be rebuilt using the same material. Likewise, we need every bit of idol worship decimated. We do not want our hearts to be reconstructed with the same pride and iniquity we had before Salvation. 

H1792 has a slight twist and can mean DUST—a modest variation, but enough to split hairs and lead us to further information. 

In Genesis 3:19, God cursed our future due to the sin of Adam and Eve, reminding us of what we are—dust. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for DUST thou art, and UNTO dust shalt thou return.

Dust is a waste product swept from driveways, blown off valuable effects, or wiped off benches. We give it no thought except to be rid of it. We begin life as dust and return to that basic substance. Nothing to brag about.

I recall a quote by comedian pianist Victor Borge: "We came from nothing, and we return to nothing, but in the middle, we think we're something." It is that "something" we need to eliminate with contrition. When even an ounce of "something" is left behind in our repentance, we remain in danger. 

But there is one biblical instance where dust became useful. 

John 9:6 shows Jesus speaking with a blind man. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

Dust was all around the blind man every day. It was useless. That is until Christ came, moistened it, and used it in a spiritually practical way, as He does with us. Jesus used dust mixed with his moisture to heal the blind man. The moisture for us is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is mixed with dust (Us), remarkable things happen. 

We go a step further when we look at how Strong's renders the word in Isaiah 66.1-2. Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

H5223 identifies this as smitten (maimed/lame) and dejected. Looking at the Old Testament Priesthood, Leviticus 21:18 says that no maimed/lame person could offer the offerings of the Lord on either the Brazen Altar or the Altar of Incense, nor enter the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies—things we are called to do in our lively New Testament Priesthood.

Without contrition, we are spiritually smitten, maimed, and lame. We experience difficulty walking with the Lord with these infirmities. 

Bible commentary author Matthew Henry said of the infirmities of the old priesthood, "The HONOUR of the priesthood would not secure them from any of those calamities which are common to men." This means they could not escape the infirmities of birth regardless of spiritual position. Because of those imperfections, they were excluded from offering to God. 

Correspondingly, Henry said of our New Testament Priesthood that we should be thankful that physical infirmities don't exclude us from the offices of ministry. There are many beautiful souls lodged in deformed bodies they can do nothing about. 

However, He added, "We ought to infer hence how incapable those are to serve God acceptably whose minds are blemished and deformed by any reining vice." When our repentance is incomplete, we cannot acceptably serve the Lord. This is why we should revisit our repentance instead of our sin.  

With all that, Isaiah 57:15 leaves a wonderful promise to us when we commit to continual contrition. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to REVIVE the spirit of the humble, and to REVIVE the heart of the contrite ones.

The Lord designed a wonderful holy pathway with continual revival that we can follow with joy and peace. The bedrock of this pathway is contrition. 

PRAYER

My Lord, so often, my heart gets bigger and more proud than it should. I long for a life of continual contrition but have a way to go.