“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (Psa. 51:17).
It hurts to be broken, and yet it is necessary. Why? Because naturally we all have our own thoughts and ideas. But they are not as great and far-reaching as God’s thoughts. What He has for us is far more exceeding and eternal. When we pursue our own thoughts, often persuading ourselves that it is what the Lord’s will is for us, necessarily there has to be breaking. When there is brokenness—real brokenness—with a willingness to sit quietly in His presence until He shows us His way, then He will not despise. Then there is blessing.
“Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust” (Psa. 16:1).
This psalm is prophetic of the Lord Jesus. God has all power and all authority. Man is made to be dependent and obedient—dependent because God has all power and obedient because God has all authority. The Lord Jesus here as a perfect Man cries for preservation. We, as born into God’s family and, as such, partakers of the divine nature, can also properly cry to God with those same words. We live in a world system where man is encouraged to be independent and rebellious. But there is a blessedness in simply realizing our need and crying to One who is greater than all.
R. Thonney