The Blessing of a Broken Spirit | Matthew 5:3

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

As I was meditating on this Scripture, I asked God what it meant to have a poor spirit and how it could be a blessing. The phrase that came to my mind was "a broken and contrite heart." The definition of those words and the definition of our word "poor" are very similar. All three of them mean to be brought low. Broken is to burst. Contrite is crushed. And poor gives the picture of a crouched beggar, not demanding service but pleading for mercy. The blessing of brokenness is found in the promises made to such people. One of those promises is right here: "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven." But looking at the other places where this type of phrase is used gives us a fuller understanding.

*The Lord Is Nigh*

"The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18). David wrote this psalm, and how many times did he cry to the Lord in his afflictions and the Lord saved him out of them all? When he was broken over his relationship with Saul. When he was broken over his backsliding into enemy territory. Often the heart of David was smitten with his own sinfulness, and God saw that his heart was broken with the things that broke God's heart. Have you ever been broken over a word you spoke in hatred? Or broken over a habit that you can't seem to shake, crushed under the guilt of your sinfulness? Such an experience is not pleasant, but it is blessed! Because God is near those who are broken over what breaks His heart. Perhaps this is why David was called a man after God's own heart—not because he never sinned, but because when he did, he was broken over the very things that broke God's heart. Blessed is the man who hates his own sinfulness, who is broken and crushed and comes begging for mercy over and over again. And here's the blessing: you will find forgiveness! The things that bar the gates of heaven to us are removed, and we are made clean in the blood of the Lamb! Blessed are they, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs!

*A Broken and Contrite Heart*

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). Here is another promise to those who are broken. This was written when David had committed adultery, murdered the man to hide his sin, and lost his child conceived in this heinous act. What did God require of David in the face of such sinfulness? A broken spirit and contrite heart. He could not undo his acts. He could not bring Uriah back to life, and no amount of sheep could account for the blood of a man. But God accepted his broken spirit. Once again he was genuinely broken over the things that broke God's heart: "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." What a fit of misery and condemnation he must have been under, but what a blessing you find in the misery of your own sinfulness, because that is where God meets the sinner—on the grounds of repentance and hatred for the very thing that separated you from Him. Blessed are all such men who bemoan their sins and come to God, not demanding, but crouched and seeking mercy not deserved.

*Have You Ever Come to Christ Broken?*

Every man that enters the kingdom of heaven must find himself in this place—broken, contrite, and sorry for his sinfulness. What a blessed evening it was when, overwhelmed with the weight of my sinfulness and condemnation, I came to Christ a poor sinner! It was there that He met me and cast away my sins and opened the doors of heaven to me! Blessed indeed are the poor in spirit, for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven—not that it shall be, but it is! Have you ever come to Christ broken? Oh, that you could see sin the way God sees it! Oh, that you may hate what God hates and be broken over the things that break His heart—what a blessing you would find.