“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. ” (Psalm 51:17 NAS)

The mental obstacle that many people have is the very opposite of the question above. Many people are not asking what God wants, they are often too busy demanding what they think God should do for them. The problem is not that God has not done absolutely amazing things for us, we are just asking the wrong question:

“God demonstrated his own love towards us in that
while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
(Romans 5:8)

Many people want solutions without relationship. If you have read any of my blogs, I call this a “concierge God” – having someone that will cater to my needs, wishes and wants without relationship. At the core of this thinking is self-righteousness – “If God is really a God of love then I think I am basically good and I think He should let me into heaven when I die.” We are very enamored with our own sense of goodness, but the Bible makes it clear that whatever we think we have, it is not good enough (Psalm 53:2-3; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).

Psalm 51:17 is not about being humble or sincere, or even nice to others. It is about having our pride broken and embracing a humble spirit BEFORE GOD. True brokenness and humility is essentially bowing before God and recognizing that He alone is to be served and worshiped. From a New Testament context, it begins with receiving the gospel personally and bowing before God. Receiving Christ is an act of a broken spirit and contrite heart – it acknowledges God as the one who is worthy of our life, worship and service… after all, He is responsible for our very existence. Even after our rebellion to be independent of Him, He still loved us enough to give up His own Son so that we can be restored into His family.

In short: What does God want? He wants you…

Pastor Brad