I love the books of Psalms and Proverbs! On days when I need encouragement and direction, these are the two books I most often come to.
Psalms is written like entries in a journal and when I read them I feel the range of emotion that’s openly and honestly expressed – feelings of intense fear, loneliness, joy and gladness are all poured out to God! It’s comforting to know that the flurry of emotions I feel on a daily basis are not going to take God by surprise. He wants for me to express to Him my deepest thoughts and feelings – good, bad and ugly. He already knows them, but when I honestly express them, the walls that threaten to put space between my heart and His, crumble. Over the course of thousands of years, our emotions are really the same and God is as ready and eager as ever to have them poured out at His feet!
In Proverbs we’re given the path to wisdom and straight-talking advice for daily living. Proverbs always seems to hit me right between the eyes. Each time I read its wisdom I’m given another “aha moment”. My prayer is that I’ll be able to take those “aha moments” and use them to live an abundant life based solely on God’s definition of wisdom and success – that’s my prayer for you as well!
Now let’s zero-in on a couple of verses from this week’s reading that really struck me.
Psalm 51:16-17 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.
I’m a “doer” by nature. I do for my family, I do for others, I do for God; sometimes I do out of love, sometimes I do out of obligation, sometimes I do because no one else will. Honestly, there are times when I just want to scream, “Hey, does anyone see what I’m doing here – it’s good stuff!” Surely God is impressed with all I’m accomplishing, right?! But as I read these verses I’m clearly reminded that I can do till I’m blue in the face and never touch the heart of God.
Here’s what God is interested in – Does my will bend easily to His? Does my self-sufficiency crumble in light of Who He Is and who I am not? Does my heart break for what breaks His? These are the things that matter to God.
I can do, do, do, but if I’m lacking a broken and contrite heart before a Perfect and Almighty God, what I’m doing will never have the impact He meant for it to have!
What am I offering to God? What are you offering to Him? My prayer is that our sweet sacrifice to God would be a broken and contrite heart.
Kristi
P.S. Parents, follow along with your kids here
Kristi loves working with kids and it shows in everything that she does. She’s passionate about “leading kids on a journey to know Jesus and make Him known.”