Isaiah 57: 15 (ESV) “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”
I just finished a writing called two thousand years. Although it was prophetic in its correction of a wayward path, I was completely downhearted after writing it. It felt too harsh and judgmental to me, which is a path I have chosen not to walk. To me it seems better to encourage than to chide. Yet it is written and I’m not to change it. I asked the Lord for help and one word came to me, contrition!
What is a contrite heart?
A contrite heart sees only its own faults and never another’s. Sometimes it’s just a broken heart and sometimes it’s a heart that feels remorse for personal sin and failure. Contrition, however, does not end only in regret. The contrite heart moves forward to repentance as the only way the heart can be mended. And through sincere repentance and humility God will step in to revive the broken one.
There is such a unique beauty in a contrite heart that it draws the presence of God Himself to the person who expresses contrition. The key word in this scripture is dwell. The Eternal One who is high and lifted up, and reigns from His holy throne, chooses to dwell with the lowly and contrite one. This is an amazing thing! It is spiritual and maybe a little beyond our limited capacities to fully comprehend God’s choosing to do this. God chooses not the conquering hero or the great evangelist but the lowly one who lives a humble life of repentance.
Since God said it, then it is a promise of His to dwell with the meek. But He goes one step further and states that He will revive the spirit of the lowly and the heart of the contrite. He not only abides with the humble one but will also revive that person infusing holy life back into that heart. A proud heart will never have the presence of God in it. His presence is saved for the contrite one.
For me, contrition is how I will choose to live and if I get proud, I hope the Holy Spirit will reveal to me my need to repent immediately.
Amen?
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