Psalm 51:17 - The Humble Heart

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart,
Psa 51:17 (KJV)

What pleases God more than sacrifices is a humble heart [NIV SB]

What really delights God is a heart that is open, humble, and dependent upon
God. [Jamieson, Fausset, And Brown Commentary]

The sacrifice David had to bring was a broken and contrite (crushed) heart-a
humbled spirit fully penitent for sin. That is what God desires and will
receive. [Bible Knowledge Commentary]

God wants a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. You can never
please God by outward actions--no matter how good--if your inward heart
attitude is not right. Are you sorry for your sin? Do you genuinely intend
to stop? God is pleased by this kind of humility.  [Life Application SB]

Every act of transgression, every neglect or rejection of the grace of
Christ, is reacting upon yourself; it is hardening the heart, depraving the
will, benumbing the understanding, and not only making you less inclined to
yield, but less capable of yielding, to the tender pleading of God's Holy
Spirit. . . . Even one wrong trait of character, one sinful desire,
persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize all the power of the
gospel. SC23-36

BEING GOOD ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH
Some people seem to think being good, treating people right, giving money to
the needy, living by the Golden Rule is all that God expects from us.  Do
not be misled by them.  God's standard is perfection - and none of us are
perfect.  Even one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven.  That is why the
Bible says that "There is no one righteous, not even one "for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:10, 23).  Does that
mean none of us can ever go to heaven?  It would if our salvation depended
on our "being good".  God has provided us another way!  That way is Christ
who came into the world to take away our sins by His death on the cross.
Don't trust your own good works.  Instead, trust Christ and what He did for
each one of us - His death and resurrection.  He alone is our hope, for
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given to men by which we must be saved"  (Act.4:12).  There is a song that
goes "What can wash away my sins?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus".  Open
your heart to Christ today. [Yokefellows]

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O
God, Thou wilt not despise." Ps. 51:17. Man must be emptied of self before
he can be, in the fullest sense, a believer in Jesus. When self is
renounced, then the Lord can make man a new creature. New bottles can
contain the new wine. The love of Christ will animate the believer with new
life. In him who looks unto the Author and Finisher of our faith the
character of Christ will be manifest. DA278-280

        True repentance occurs when we begin to see sin from God's point of
view - when we see the way our sin has broken his heart.  Perhaps the idea
that God's heart can be broken by our sin is new to you.  In Gen.6:5-6 we
are told, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the
earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.  And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and
he was grieved in his heart" (NASB).  God was so disappointed with what he
saw that there was a grief or sorrow in his heart.
        Jesus also was brokenhearted as he wept over Jerusalem.  "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers
her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Lk.13:34).  God's
heart aches over our sin.  It alienates us from him and from our fellow
believers.
        If we want to have victory over sin and turn our lives
wholeheartedly over to God, then we must see our sin from God's perspective.
 No sermon on hell can ever change a person's heart like seeing the grief
sin has brought to the heart of the One who created us.  We must ask God to
show us what our sin does to him.  As we do this and begin to understand his
great love for us, despite how much we have hurt and grieved his heart then
we will want to turn away from sin and let God give us new desires with new
ways of living.  [Floyd McClung; Time with God devotional SB mod]

Christ manifested a love that is incomprehensible; and as the sinner beholds
this love, it softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition
in the soul. . . . Those to whom He has forgiven most will love Him most,
and will stand nearest to His throne to praise Him for His great love and
infinite sacrifice. It is when we most fully comprehend the love of God that
we best realize the sinfulness of sin. When we see the length of the chain
that was let down for us, when we understand something of the infinite
sacrifice that Christ has made in our behalf, the heart is melted with
tenderness and contrition.  SC23-36