Contrite and Lowly In Spirit

Good Morning,

Isaiah 57:15 (NIV)
For this is what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

We are reminded in this verse today that the Lord God of the entire universe, the maker and creator of all things, who lives in heaven with His saints and angels, we are reminded that He is ALSO with each one who is contrite and lowly in spirit. This, my friends, is both a statement of fact from God and a promise that He will be, is, with every one of us, as well.

So, what, exactly, IS being contrite? Does that apply to all the saints? As we are all sinners in God's eyes, we certainly should be...even must be...contrite. Contrite means, showing sincere remorse; being filled with a sense of guilt and the desire for atonement. So, it stands that if we wish to company of God, then we, all of us, should be contrite, don't you think? It also stands to reason that if we are NOT contrite, if we don't show some remorse or guilt over out sin, well, we need to take a look deep inside on that one and pray that God will come to show us the error of our ways. But, I think the main point of this thought about contrition is that God tells us He is with us and will be with us to "revive the heart of the contrite." That is, God Himself, Almighty God who is capable of anything and everything, He is right there to comfort us in our confessions of sin to Him and He is there to put His loving arms around each of us to lift us up and help us to live again with joy, happiness, and satisfaction that we are good with Him.

This verse of Scripture also talks about God living with those who are "lowly in spirit." I don't think I need to go into a long, drawn out explanation of what lowly in spirit means. It would be somewhat futile anyway because what being "lowly" to you might be totally different to me. Each of us has our high points and low points when it comes to our spirituality and how we view ourselves in that way. What's wonderful is that God fully understands each of us as we go through these ups and downs in our spirit. He knows. He understands. I think that He feels exactly what we do at those times when we are lowly in spirit. He tells us in these words from the Bible that He is WITH US at these times to lift up our spirit and put aside that which has caused us to be anything less that fully joyful in our spirt...joyful in Him...joyful in the fact that He is who He is and that He does what He does and the very fact that He lives in each of us through His Holy Spirit.

These are really words of comfort today for us to know and understand. God is aware of how we feel. He knows that we are sorrowful and contrite about the sin we've done. He knows when our spirit is down and we need Him to lift us up.

God knows. Oh, He also cares.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David