HIS gaze is on the broken of heart

When I first became a Christian, I often heard of the exhortation to humble myself.  I thought I knew what that meant but as I followed on to know & serve the Lord, I discovered that my ideas about humility were shallow and usually mistaken.  Early on, I began to ask the Lord in prayer, "Just what do You mean, humble myself?"  I have to admit that after all these years (I met the Lord in 1972) I am still discovering what it means to humble myself.

There is a passage that brings some illumination on this subject, particularly the part that describes how God feels about those who humble themselves before HIM.  Let me quote it for you from Isa.66:1-2.  The prophet is speaking for God and quotes the Lord as saying, "Thus says the Lord, 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  Where then is the house you could build for me?  And where is a place that I may rest?  For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,' declares the Lord.  'But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of heart, and who trembles at my word.'"

What a remarkable passage.   God's expression about heaven being His throne & the earth being His foot rest is meant to indicate that there is no physical place that can contain Him.  HE is trying to tell us that we should not think of Him as being just in one place.  What does this mean?  For us it means that God isn't more Present in our church buildings than any where else.  When we leave the church building on Sunday, God doesn't remain there waiting for us to return and visit with Him next Sunday.  God' chosen place of habitation is within His people.  What kind of people does God choose to live with?  Just who will Jesus reside with?  This point is so dear to the Lord, so crucial to an appropriate way to live the Christian life, so essential to our faith in Christ, that if we miss this, we miss just about everything about the love of God & what HE intended for His children.  We JUST HAVE TO GET THIS RIGHT!

God elaborates by asking rhetorical questions like what building can you make that would contain me or where is the physical place where I can rest (enjoy being there)?  These questions are rhetorical and demand obvious answers.  It is redundant to speak them but here they are.  There is no building that we can build that will contain the Lord.  There is no resting place = locality, that HE would choose or would be comfortable dwelling in.  OUR GOD DOES NOT SEEK A PHYSICAL and/or an INANIMATE PLACE IN WHICH TO DWELL!   The Lord's choice to dwell in the temple in Jerusalem was intended by Him to be an illustration of the ONE TEMPLE, the one place HE longs to dwell - the only place where God is comfortable - the one place where He longs to be - in the hearts of His people!

God describes this sublime intention in the back half of verse 2.  These are precious words revealing the longing heart of God for us, "But to this one I will look."  God looks for a person to be close to - a person to live with - a person to reside with.  And then HE describes that person.  As a young Christian, I often felt God was far from me.  This was not all the time but often enough that it was quite upsetting to me.  The trouble was that it revealed my natural & linear thinking that simply was not worthy of the revelation of Jesus either in the bible or to my own heart when I was born again.  God is not far from us or near to us in a measured way such as yards or inches or miles.  He is near or far from us more on the basis of similarity.  In other words, as we are like Him HE is near to us and as we are unlike Him, HE is far from us.  This is closer to the thinking that Jesus wants us to practice.  Hence God gives the description of the kind of person He is looking to be near, to pay attention to, the kind of person that HE enjoys & longs to live with.

Let's look at this description. 'Humble & contrite of spirit', is the 1st expression.  God puts these 2 terms together and it is a help to us.  it gives us a glimpse into what God really means to humble ourselves.  The word 'contrite' is the key.  It means broken - hence the title of this article.  Broken does not mean smashed or wounded or unhealthy (mentally or spiritually).  It means a person who has come to the end of themselves & has surrendered to God's will & assessment.  A broken person says, "Not my way but yours O Lord."  They say, "What you say about me, others, the world, sin, righteousness, etc., is all true.  I set down my agenda and accept (embrace) yours O God!"  This brokenness often comes from hardship or severe trial for those things often bring an individual to the end of themselves where they are finally willing to come to God & receive His will & His blessing without pre-conditions.  No 'dealmaking', just surrender & trust that God is always right & that HE intends good.  

God also tells us He is watching to note those who tremble at His Word.  This trembling  implies a respect and Godly fear of what God says about everything.  It means that the believer takes God's Word seriously whether it is a command, an instruction, a warning, a promise, a statute or principle, a blessing, an encouragement, or any such thing.  God's Word becomes precious to this one & God notices this.  God's Word means everything to this person & that means everything to God.  HE has placed such a high value on this kind of individual that HE describes them as His desired place to live.

Another passage says this is a similar way, "For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is holy, 'I dwell in a high and holy place, and also with and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"  Indeed, Isaiah often prophesies these kind of things.  It is a favorite theme of God with His servant Isaiah.  

And it is the Lord who brings us to this humility.  We are required to cooperate for sure, but Jesus must provide the raw materials or we CANNOT GET THERE!  Therefore, Jesus humbled Himself, took on the form of a servant, and became obedient to death that we might receive from Him this brokenness - this humility - this contriteness of heart - along with all of His other amazing character traits.  And so we pray & with all that is within us, attempt to be honest before God about our need of Him.  Jesus is my supply.  He is also my dwelling place as I am His!  

So Lord, we humble ourselves & break before you.  You are our everything!  Your Word means more to us than life.  Cleanse us and make us truly humble & broken people that we may live with you and you with us.  Be of good cheer my friends.  God has taken our case in hand & will be faithful to drive out pride & self-sufficiency so that in the end, all that will be left is trusting in our God, our Master, our King, and our best friend.  Jesus hasten the day!