What God Does Not Despise

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Ps 51:17 AV)

There is much to be said of what God prizes.  This psalm is David’s confession and desire to reconcile after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and his disposing of her husband.  Some may think it impossible to come back from such an extreme impulse of the flesh.  It would be hard to fathom what David did here and the ability to reconcile with God.  Yet, this psalm is a record of David’s brokenness before almighty God.  There would be some who would never believe David.  Bathsheba’s grandfather, Ahithophel, never did.  He harbored ill will towards David for a very long time and when the occasion presented itself, he allied with Absalom against him.  Man can despise a broken and contrite heart.  But God never will.

There is a great example of this principle found in the story of the prodigal son.  The younger of two sons felt he wanted to flee his father’s authority.  He demanded of his father his inheritance in advance.  This son took off with his newly found wealth and squandered it on riotous living.  Having wasted all his money, he was brought to the point of begging for food from pigs.  That is pretty low.  He came to the end of himself and realized the servants of his father do no lack for food and it would be better to be a bond-servant to his father than have his liberty among the pigs.  So, he journeyed home.  He practiced over and again what he would say when he met his father.  He would confess his sin, seek forgiveness, and ask for reconciliation to the lowest level.  If he has to remain a bondservant, that was ok with him.  As long as he was reconciled to his father.  As the son approached, the father ran to him and fell upon his neck.  They embraced.  The son gives his speech and meant every word of it.  However, out in the field, there was the older brother.  The faithful one.  The one who would never think of abandoning his father.  He resented the welcome his younger son received.  I am sure he questioned his brother’s sincerity.  Did he return just because he was hungry and only wanted to use their father again?  Was he going to take off again once his belly was full? 

The sincerity of our hearts is not for others to judge.  Or at least, not for us to get obsessed with.  It is the LORD who matters.  He will not despise those who come to Him with a broken and contrite heart.  The motive does matter.  But the condition of the heart matters more.  We may return to the LORD because the consequences of which we are suffering are simply too much to bear.  We may be suffering want because we turned our back on God.  Perhaps it is overbearing guilt that drives us to reconcile.  The motives can vary.  However, it is the brokenness that resulted from those circumstances which God will not despise.  Sure, we would hope we are driven to reconcile for the most mature of all motives.  We would hope we would reconcile for no other reason than that we offended God and He deserves our broken heart.  Yet God is more compassionate than this.  All He needs to see is a heart that is broken over our sin and a heart prepared to accept the judgment and mercy of God.  We can go to Him with an assurance that our hearts will not be abused.  We can approach Him knowing that He shows gratitude towards those willing to humbly seek His mercy.  This is what God does not despise.