Psalm 51

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17, ESV)

Sometimes it isn’t until we hit rock bottom that we can find our way up. Until that time we are swimming in a sea of darkness and confusion. We may think that we are traveling toward our destination, but in fact we are only wandering. We have not yet exhausted all our resources; our flesh is not yet ready to concede. But when we have lost everything, and the pigs’ pods begin to look appetizing, then we have hit bottom. For many, this is the turning point. As with the prodigal son, their spirit is broken, they come to their senses, and they return home to the Father.

David had committed the combined transgressions of adultery and murder. He lived in this compromised and hypocritical condition for a year. Then God sent the prophet Nathan who told David a parable that confronted him with his sin. David was convicted, he came to his senses, and he wrote Psalm 51. Had David offered sacrifices and burnt offerings during that year? As the king of Israel who was trying to keep up appearances, most likely he had. But these offerings were a vain attempt to please God. A great wall separated him from the LORD, which could not be removed apart from confession, repentance, and brokenness.

We often pray for a spiritual revival, but where does this begin? It starts with a broken and contrite heart. As Roy Hession wrote in his classic work The Calvary Road:

“Revival is not a green valley getting greener, but a valley full of dry bones being made to live again and stand up an exceeding great army.” (Ezekiel 37)

If we would experience genuine revival, then we must stop pretending that our dry bones are alive and confess to God that we are spiritually dry and dead.

David wrote in Psalm 32:

“When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.” (Psalm 32:3, NKJV)

David was miserable in his unbroken state. But when his spirit was broken and his heart contrite over the sins he had committed against God, then the conditions were right for his old dead bones to live again. He cried out from the depth of his being:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:10–11, NKJV)

Have you come to this turning point? Are you at the place where all you really want is for God to form a clean heart in you and restore to you the joy of His salvation? If so, then be assured that the Father is waiting for you with open arms. He will breathe new life in you and raise you up to be part of His holy army. If not, then you are in a miserable state of separation and spiritual barrenness. I pray that your spirit will be broken, your heart contrite, and your lips confessing your sins at the foot of the cross, where Jesus paid for every one of them with His own precious blood.