The Heart of Men

On Isaiah 57:15 we read how God states He also dwells with the contrite and humble in spirit. Notice also how God wants to "revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

Trying to understand the spirit and the heart I found these definitions: The term spirit is also used as a synonym for personality or character. The seat of emotions. Heart is referred here as the inner man, the will or moral character. You can see how both spirit and heart are very much related. Both needs to be revived.

The condition of the heart of men is very important to the Lord, because is there where He desires to dwell. The heart of men could be broken by guilt and remorse, bitter and full of envy(Prov. 23:17), set to do evil (Mat.12:35), full of pride(Prov. 28:25) to mention a few.

The spirit of men needs to be renewed, similar to be refresh, revive, give new life, energy, to regain consciousness. The Lord speaks of the humble in spirit, which is a meek, modest, not arrogant, submissive to the Lord. A good example is one who listens to the Word of God and is capable to recognize the need to repent and comes to the Lord for forgiveness.

Jesus is the prime example of a meek and humble at heart. He said that we should learn of Him, who is meek and humble, and we will find rest for our souls (Mat. 11:29). When our spirit is troubled there is no peace, but Jesus will give us the peace, we need, peace with God.

It is told of David, the king of Israel, that he was a man after God's heart, (Acts 5:13) and a man that did right on the eyes of the Lord (1Kings 15:5); that is why David is a good example of a contrite heart.

David wrote Psalm 51,where we can so clearly read his own experience, how sin affected the condition of his heart. He was oppressed by guilt, in pain, sorrowful and he regretted his actions. When he acknowledge it before the Lord, he asked the Lord to create in him a heart and renew a spirit in him (ver.10), to restore the joy of the salvation.

The heart of men needs to be changed, turn to God, to be healed. On Psalm 51:17 we read: "The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." God will revive the contrite heart that submits to the will of God, and will find forgiveness and peace in the Grace and Love of our Lord.

There is a place in the heart of men that only can be filled by God. HE created us to declare the virtues, the goodness of our Him, to testify of His love, mercy, and salvation (1Pet.2:9) . Let our hearts be also a place where HE can dwell.

As a Christian I like to share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus with everyone. Read more articles by Edith A. Lee at Finding Life in Him