The Hands & the Heart

“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

—Psalm 51:6-7

We’re all tempted to serve Jesus without savoring him. We neglect what Jesus calls in Luke 10:42, the “good portion.” But busy hands without a heart for Jesus is a recipe for sin and misery.

In Psalm 51, a freshly convicted David declares the vital connection between the hands and the heart. No amount of burnt offerings laid on the altar could please God. Superficial worship holds out hands to God, but holds back the heart. The problem was David’s sin-sick heart before the Lord, not a shortage of bulls and goats. One thing we can learn from David’s scandalous ordeal is that the matter of the heart is always the heart of the matter. Worship that pleases God flows from a humble heart.

Friend, are you neglecting the better portion? Have you made peace with certain sin-patterns in your life? Have you resisted church fellowship, one of God’s means of speaking into your life? Do you have busy hands, but a troubled heart? Jesus invites you to draw near to Him without delay. The image of Him on the cross, arms wide open, is an apt image for reluctant worshippers.