Knowing God - Isaiah 66:2

(from Pastor)

I, the LORD, have spoken!

I will bless those who have

humble and contrite hearts,

who tremble at my word.

Isaiah 66:2

 

Who wants God's blessing?!!

 

Alright ... I know, I know ... dumb question ... we all want God's blessing, right?

 

Well, if we want God's blessing, it appears to me that the first thing we need to do is find out what "contrite" means. Why? Because it says that God will bless those whose hearts are "contrite."

 

What does contrite mean? Well, here's my non-scientific definition ... Having always seen "contrite" in the context of confession. The "con" part of the word has seemed to mean something like "no" and "negative." And the "trite" part reminds me of a word it rhymes with: "Tight."

 

Contrite, therefore, has always seemed like "a tightening of a belt" or "a cutting out of a dessert." (Do you hear that "no" and "negative" there? "Cut it out?!")

 

More officially, "contrite" is "a sincere remorse for wrongdoing," or as one web dictionary put it: "Contrite is a more sophisticated way of describing feelings of regret" -- as in, "Many felt the politician's apology was not contrite enough."

 

The point is this: Contrite is regret and repent. And today's lesson is the promise that if we want God's blessing, the first thing we need to do is "cut it out" -- as in, we need to cut out the sin and distractions; we need to circumcize our hearts.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's always wanted the "contrite" blessings 

while striving to live a "non-trite" life-style

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Humble. Contrite. Tremble.  Not words of strength. Words of weakness. Of putting others first in a fearful manner.  Put others first, regret and repent, be fearful.  Then we will be blessed.  The order of the words strikes me.  If we are humble (and if you tell others that you are humble then you likely need to do some work!), regret our sinful actions/thoughts/words/deeds and ask for forgiveness and fear God as the great and powerful being that he is - then we will most definitely receive his blessing.  easy peasy, right? HA!