IBS Psalm 51:16-17 (8-6-14)

Inductive Bible Study for Psalm 51:16-17 (8-6-14)

"For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart - these, O God, You will not despise."

We taught about Moses building the tabernacle last week, and as I read this verse, I was reminded of how many sacrifices needed to be made on a daily basis on behalf of all the people. I would be so heart broken to have to kill an animal every time I did something wrong. I have no problem eating animals - that's what God gave them to us for. However, killing it as a punishment for what I did would probably make me cry. That's the whole point though: to have an innocent die as a result of sin. How much more heart broken should I be to consider how horrific of a death Jesus had to die for me? 

This verse in Psalm says that God doesn't delight in burnt offerings - He desires a broken and contrite heart. Both of these are sacrifices, but God only delights in one of them. What is sacrifice? Sacrifice -> Propitiation -> Conciliate -> To overcome hostility, to win over and to make compatible. I knew a sacrifice was to give something of value in order to reconcile, but never have the dots connected like this before. Jesus sacrificed Himself because He loves us and in doing so, He made us compatible with God - if we choose to accept His free gift of salvation. Jesus, being fully Man and fully God, stands in the gap between man and God as the perfect substitution. 

I'm understanding more about Jesus' sacrifice for us, but what about our sacrifices for God? God wants our hearts and spirits to be broken and contrite. Broken is to be reduced to fragments, vulnerable, weak, trained into submission and destroyed. Contrite is to be humble, remorseful and repentant. To put it into context with this verse, we are to allow God into the deepest, darkest parts of our souls and let Him change and shape us as He wishes. We are to be disgusted by our sin and hate it so much that we turn from it and ask God to forgive us. We are to come before Him humbly, knowing that we are wretched sinners and are in no way deserving of His grace. 

I'm not going to lie, to be left empty, weak and helpless is terrifying. Why would God want us to be in such a position where we can be easily hurt? The only way for Him to change, fill and strengthen us is when we have nothing left to fall back on - when we are at our lowest, have no one else to call to and know that there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. God is a jealous God and He doesn't want our hearts to belong to anyone but Him. In order for us to not "lean on" anything, our lives need to be completely given to Him. This doesn't mean giving something you can get back later - it means giving everything with the knowledge that once it's in His hands, there's no way of getting it back unless He chooses to give it to you. 

I'm grasping this concept of brokenness and submission, and I hope you are too, but how can we apply this? I think it's a daily process of surrendering my will, hopes and desires to The Lord and truly baring my soul to Him. I'm sometimes scared of what He will do, but I'm more scared of me doing what I want to do and ruining everything. I know that His plans for me are greater than I could ever imagine and that He is faithful - He's never failed me and He won't start now. I'm going to make it a habit during my morning devotions to ask The Lord for a broken and contrite spirit.