A broken spirit

'A broken spirit'

— Psalm 51:17

I am convinced that no man has ever experienced the grace of God in salvation until his heart is thoroughly broken before a holy God as he has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. If ever a man finds out who he is, who God is, who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what he has done for sinners ⎯ if a man ever really learns these things, he will be a broken man. When Job stood in the presence of his three miserable friends, he vindicated himself and even cursed his day. He said, ‘Why did I not perish from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?’ But when he stood in the presence of God, he was a broken man and he spoke as a broken man. He saw himself in all the hideousness of his sin and he saw God in all the holiness of his majesty. Then he said, ‘Behold, I am vile.’ ‘I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes’ (Job 40:4; 42:5-6). There is no pride and egotism here, no haughtiness, no self-vindication. Once Job had seen the Lord, he was broken. He loathed himself and blamed himself. Once Job had seen the Lord, he honored God and vindicated him. The truly broken heart will always vindicate God, no matter the cost.

This brokenness can only be produced in our stubbornly sinful hearts by a saving revelation of Christ in our hearts. Brokenness is found at the cross. The Lord God declares that when he pours upon the hearts of his elect the Spirit of grace, then ‘They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn’ (Zech. 12: 10). Have you been to the cross? Have you had the crucified Christ revealed in your heart? Has your heart been broken by the knowledge of the Lord? O Lord, evermore break our hearts before thee! Amen.