Devotional: Is God Pleased with Our Sacrifices?

Psalm 51:16-17  for thou desirest not sacrifice; else I would give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, though wilt not despise.

Men and women by nature feel they should DO SOME THING to gain God's favor.  So they light candles, pay for indulgences, attend temple ceremonies, offer food offerings to idols of a deity, do good works or they simply attend church at Christmas and Easter. Others just pour themselves into the work of the church thinking they are pleasing God by their busyness for Him while their relationship with God suffers. There are many other things people do to earn God's favor besides these.

In a sense, these are all just sacrifices to hopefully earn God's favor. David, in this Psalm, realizes this is not what God really desires or else he would give it. David realizes that God does not delight in any of our sacrifices unless our heart is right. 

God wants first, a broken and contrite heart.  He wants us to be broken over the sin our lives.  He wants us to have humble hearts before Him.  When we offer the sacrifice of our time and pleasures, but are not broken over sin, then it is an act of pride because we think we can please God by what we do for Him. 

Ah, but there are those who will cry, "Faith without works is dead!".  It takes faith to realize that all my works are tainted with sin and cannot please God apart from a heart that is broken and contrite before Him.  Once the heart is broken over sin and contrite before God, then works will come as a natural result out of love for God and His mercy. Good works in any other context are useless for gaining favor with God.

I must confess that often, I find myself going through the motions but my heart is not broken and contrite before God.  All those works done with a heart not right before God will be burned up.  Only those works I do from a heart right with God will survive the fire of His judgment in the end.

How is your heart?  Are you busy for God but neglecting your heart attitudes toward sin in your life? I find one way to gage this is to listen to my thoughts and words.  Am I grumbling?  Am I wanting to be noticed for what I do? Do I have the martyr complex?  This is very convicting to me.  God help us with our hearts!