HEART PH.D.

Thursday, 08 January 2009

Sunday, January 04, 2009

HEART PH.D.

I have written many times about repentance. As this new year has begun, God has led me into prayer for Christians. Why Christians specifically? Look around. Look around your church community. Look into the depths of your neighbor's heart. Do you see love? Repentance? Transformed lives? Who does the hard thing anymore? Who even knows what the hard thing is?

God uses pictures (like reel-to-reel clips), to teach me. Tonight while in prayer, He showed me a picture of an arid and vast desert. It seemed to go on forever into the landscape. The sun was yellow-white and low hanging with heat. Sand blew around in a skinny way, wispy, pointless, scattering every which way. There on a far sand hill stood a multitude of people; their flesh was opened and splayed, revealing hearts that had been fossilized. The people were slowly, almost invisibly, sinking as the hill was eroded by the wind. Sometimes the wind carried shouts and cries, sometimes sobs. Once in a while, someone would disappear from sight. They were reaching out with burned and withered hands to someone, anyone, crying into the wind, "Is it too late?"

As I viewed this vision, God brought Psalm 51 (which we have been discussing at Bible study), to mind. David had sinned greatly (not that we all don't), and was begging God for mercy in this heartrending Psalm. His appeals were not based on anything that he could accomplish himself but on God's mercy and grace alone. David knew this all too well. How do we know what kind of heart David possessed? By how he repented.

At this same Bible study we discussed the three things that demonstrate true and fruitful repentance (thanks, Rit for the reminders!):

1.There is conviction--this is an admission of our sins. The Holy Spirit is marvelous at this!

David said, "...For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight..." (Psalm 51:3-4).

2. There is contrition--this is the loathing that comes with recognizing our sins--here is where we see ourselves as God does!

"Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity....save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God Who saves me..." (Psalm 51:9,14).

3. There is conversion--this is where our sin is abandoned and we fall face down before our King. This is where hearts are healed and transformation occurs.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me..."(Psalm 51:10-12).

God makes it pretty darn clear what He desires from us. He expects our hearts to look like the following from Isaiah 66:2b, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word."

Again...in Psalm 51:17, " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God You will not despise."

David was broken...something we all seem to want to avoid. David was repentant and contrite...something we see no need for because it seems out of place today. But God wants this zeroing out of ourselves so He can pour in. That only happens when we are empty of every piece of ourselves; the pride, the unforgiveness, the stinginess, the lack of love, etc.

When we refuse to repent, we effectively close the door on healing. Yes, there is pain in brokenness but it is also where we meet God face-to-face.This is where we see who we are and how much we need Him. The hard thing...probably the hardest thing we do as Christians is to repent. Repentance (and obedience), goes against everything the world hands us.

As I face my own daily need for repentance, and pray for the repentance of others, I am reminding myself that the brokenness is part of the plan. It is not a mistake. The brokenness, or rather, the willingness to place ourselves in the position to be broken (I like it when David says "Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones YOU have crushed rejoice," Psalm 51:8), is a choice. God breaks us to transform us. Repentance is how we bend down for the chastisement. It is intentional, planned and for our own good!

Let's get off that hill and get the sand out of our teeth! Allow God to do what He does best----forgive us. He will not forgive what we refuse to repent...so, do it.

"Therefore this is what the Lord says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve Me..."(Jer. 15:19).

c 2009 M. LaPointe