Contrite?

 

In Psalm 51 David expresses his deep remorse and regret for his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite.  By way of reminder, he used his position as King to precipitate an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and maneuvered to have Uriah her husband killed on the front lines in battle.  Nathan the prophet confronts him:

‘Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. (2 Samuel 12:9)

And David repents.

             Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.^[1] (2 Sa 12:13)

Fortunately, we have Psalm 51 as a more descriptive version of David’s repentance. 

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Ps 51:17)

David describes his condition before God as a “broken and contrite heart”.  In the Hebrew language, the word “contrite” literally means “crushed and beaten to pieces”.  This word was used in the crushing of the golden calf (Exod 32:20) and crushing of enemies in battle (Ps 89:10) In David’s case I suppose he meant that he was humbled and repentant before God, crushed by his sense of guilt and sinfulness.

This is strong language for the deep remorse he was feeling before God.  He felt beaten down and torn apart by the realization of his sinful condition before a holy God.  I suppose we might ask, “How does God feel about the contrite person?”

The prophet Isaiah speaks to this very question…

For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isa 57:15)

Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. (Isa 66:1-2)

Notice that in both these passages the Lord is looking for a certain type of person, a contrite person.  Contrition is certainly appropriate when, like David, we are deeply aware of our sins.  Specific sins should cause this response in us before God.  Deep personal repentance often includes a sense of being utterly worthless and deserving of punishment.  Contrition brings us to the Cross of Christ with no hope in ourselves to find restoration with God, only the grace God provided through the perfect sacrifice of His Son.

But what about the broader concept of our sinfulness?  Are we only sinners because we sin, or is it the other way around?  Do we sin because we are sinners? Both passages in Isaiah seem to indicate that the Lord is looking for a certain type of person, a contrite one.  This is much more than momentary flashes of contrition, when we know we have displeased the Lord.  This is the pervasive realization of our sinful condition before a Holy God.  God looks for this type of person. 

He promises to revive the heart of the contrite.  What a wonderful promise.  Certainly, this is fulfilled when we trust Christ as Savior and Lord.  The Holy Spirit comes to live in us and give us a new heart.  We know we can walk with the Lord daily and enjoy His fellowship. During times of extraordinary stress and pressure, when we feel crushed by circumstances beyond our control, our heavenly Father is there to revive and restore.

The righteous cry, and the Lord hears And delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Ps 34:17-18)

Isaiah also promises the Lord looks for another quality that may be equally important- “who trembles at My word” (Isa 66:2b) True humility and contriteness are not mere subjective qualities. We are not humble and contrite only because we FEEL that way.  These qualities have their roots in our response to God’s Word.  We cannot pretend to be humble and contrite while ignoring the specific commands and requirements of Scripture.  They go hand in hand.  To tremble at His word is to stay rooted in Scripture and to be quick to obey.  This is the person God looks for- humble, contrite, trembling at His word.

 

 

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^[1]All passages in this blog were taken from  New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 2 Sa 12:13.