Read Psalm 51:14-19. 14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
David’s sin haunts him as he can still see the blood that is on his hands, however his prayer is not for deliverance from the consequences of his sin but from the guilt of his sin. There is no pay back or restitution to be made to God, no sacrifice or offering will appease him. Only the offering of praise from a contrite heart, and the sacrifice of a broken spirit.
The broken and contrite heart is the settled disposition of the one who is in Christ. In Christ we are fully aware of how much we deserve the wrath of God but have received the mercy of his love. This is not self-loathing. It is the heart that is fully abandoned to the grace of God.
How do you know when you are humbled in this way? When you open your mouth what comes out? Your righteousness or his?
To live is Christ is to live in brokenness from sin and boldness from mercy.
You: Is your contrition rooted in your own righteousness or Christ’s?
You in Christ: How does being in Christ balance our brokenness over sin and wholeness in his mercy?
Christ in you: Is there any sin that you need to take to God today? How would Christ have you approach the Father?
Pray: Father, teach me true brokenness and contrition, and use my sin to teach me humility toward a deeper trust in your goodness and grace. Amen.
To Live is Christ 