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 51:16–17
“You Will Not Delight in Sacrifice”
There is a truth we have to wrap our minds around regarding worship that comes from Psalm 51:16: There is worship that God does not accept. Already you may be somewhat uncomfortable. You may be asking, “What do you mean ‘worship that God does not accept?’ Doesn’t God receive any worship from anyone who will offer it at any time?” Well, no.
If you go back to nearly the beginning, Scripture teaches this sobering truth. In Genesis 4 both Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord, but only Abel’s was accepted. Why? Abel offered his sacrifice in faith, but Cain brought his offering with a heart that was not right before God (Heb. 11:4). It was not merely the offering but the posture of the worshiper that mattered.
Then in Exodus 32, while Moses was up on the mountain meeting with God, Aaron and the people fashioned a golden calf down below. They claimed to worship God but did so by means of a carved image, directly breaking the second commandment. God’s wrath burned hot against his people, and many of them died.
Based on sermons from Matthew Boswell, this devotional shares biblical wisdom and practical insights from Psalm 51, teaching readers how to have a heart that is repentant, restored, renewed, and responsive to Christ.
In Leviticus 10:1–2 Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron who were newly ordained priests, offered “unauthorized fire” before the Lord. He had not commanded this of them. Like the Hebrews at Sinai, they attempted to approach God on their own terms. Suddenly, fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them. They died worshiping the right God in the wrong way.
Other examples from Scripture continue to highlight God’s disdain for improper worship. King Saul failed to worship God with heart and obedience more than once and was rejected by the Lord as a result (1 Sam. 13:8–14; 15). A man named Uzzah reached out and touched the ark while transporting it to keep it from falling, and he was struck dead for handling it improperly (1 Chron. 13:5–10). The prophets Isaiah, Amos, and Malachi all cried out to the people of God to try to help them see that God did not want their sacrifices and offerings when they came from empty hearts (Isa. 1:10–17; Amos 5:21–24; Mal. 1:6–10).
With this helpful background in mind, we make our way to Psalm 51:16:
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
Place yourself in the sandals of an Old Testament worshiper and read the verse again. This statement might come as a shock. After all, scattered throughout the pages of the Pentateuch are God’s own commands regarding sacrifices and offerings. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy speak a great deal about various types of sacrifices, ranging from offerings for intentional sin and accidental wrongs to offerings for thanksgiving and commemoration. God himself instituted these offerings and called his people to observe them with care.
Even more, God did take pleasure in the sacrifices and worship of his people. But only when their offerings were accompanied by sincere hearts. He did not want the worship of people whose hearts were divided, who claimed to love God while they chased after other gods or inwardly despised his word.
So why does David say, “You will not delight in sacrifice”? He isn’t dismissing the sacrificial system. Instead, he’s acknowledging that in his present state, no outward offering can restore what has been broken. The specific Hebrew word for “sacrifice” in the first line of Psalm 51:16 is most commonly associated with the peace offering, a joyful expression of fellowship with God (see Lev. 3; Lev. 7:11–36). The peace offering represented God and sinner reconciled.1 Obviously, David is not in a state to make this kind of offering. Burnt offerings signified complete surrender and atonement (see Lev. 1), and in the second line of Psalm 51:16 David acknowledges that God “will not be pleased with a burnt offering” either. He rightly understands that even the most costly sacrifice would be empty in God’s sight apart from a contrite heart.2 Ultimately, the truth captured in Psalm 51:16–17 shows what is really important to God.3
The point of Psalm 51:16 is not that God opposes worship but that he insists on the right worship being offered with the right heart. So when idols of our own making capture our attention, when our affections are divided, and when our hearts have grown cold, we must turn to the Lord with all humility and pray with the sweet singer of Israel:
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name. (Ps. 86:11)
Only God can unite a divided heart. But oh, what hope we have. If you belong to Christ, you have been forever united to him (Rom. 6:5; 1 Cor. 6:17). As imperfect as your worship may be, it is pleasing to God. This is the joy of true worship—not that God receives you based on your performance, the depth of your sincerity, or even the orthodoxy of your practice but based on the merit of Christ, who offered perfect worship on your behalf (Heb. 10:14). In fact, the only way to practice right worship with the right heart is in and through Jesus Christ. If you are in him, you are welcomed into the very presence of God, and he wants you to bring your whole heart. And when your heart feels weak or fractured, you can ask him to unite it again. What comfort we find in the words that poet and hymnist Harriet Auber gave us to sing:
Cleansed from guilt,
let sin’s dark mazes
Tempt no more our wand’ring feet;
Then our offerings, prayers, and praises,
Shall a gracious answer meet.4
The Worship That God Will Not Despise
While Psalm 51:16 speaks to the worship that God will not delight in, Psalm 51:17 speaks to the worship that God will not despise. Here we reach one of the most stunning phrases in Scripture and learn about the worship that God loves to receive:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise. (Ps. 51:17)
Against the backdrop of the sacrificial system, these words shine like a diamond. If the point made in Psalm 51:16 is that no physical sacrifice will be accepted, then the point of Psalm 51:17 is that the sacrifice must be a spiritual one. What is more precious in the eyes of the Lord than a thousand spotless lambs or ten thousand perfect doves? A single heart turned in true, brokenhearted contrition. Yes, this is the sacrifice that God not only accepts; it is the very offering that he delights in. In fact, “this is the only damaged offering an Israelite was allowed to bring; every animal had to be perfect—but the heart of the sinner had to be broken and contrite.”5
God will not turn away the heart bruised by transgression. He will not refuse the spirit crushed beneath the weight of sin. The broken spirit need not for a moment try to hide its true state. A brokenhearted worshiper does not waste time trying to posture before God. He or she simply pleads for mercy, completely undone. Undoubtedly, the words of Psalm 51:17 have dripped from the lips of countless saints through the ages as they cried out to the Lord in times of incredible sorrow, sin, and suffering.
Why a Broken Heart?
John Bunyan wrote his book The Acceptable Sacrifice on Psalm 51:17, and it stretches more than thirty-five pages long on this one verse. It is chock-full of careful thought and pastoral help as it answers the question “Why is a broken heart so significant in the eyes of God?” I will outline Bunyan’s reasoning because it was so helpful to my own understanding.
The first reason God delights in brokenhearted worship is that “a broken heart is the handiwork of God; a heart of his own preparing, for his own service; it is a sacrifice of his own providing.”6 Just as God provided the lamb for the offering when Abraham took Isaac up the mountain to worship, so God provides the necessary offering in all his people: hearts broken under the weight of conviction, now laid bare before him in contrition and repentance. Bunyan wrote of the heart, “That is the cabinet, when unlocked, where God lays up the jewels of the gospel.”7 The Lord breaks the hard heart and then binds it up with grace, making it a fit altar for his worship.
Another reason God delights in brokenhearted worship is that a broken heart is humble and submissive. It bows before God in reverent fear and gives God the glory that he alone deserves.8 The brokenhearted do not approach the throne of grace with ego and bravado; they go to God with a divine mixture of humility and dependence, offering themselves wholly to the Lord.
It is the costly, free grace of God and his great love for us that fuels our worship.
The third reason a broken heart is so sweet in the sight of the Lord is that a broken heart treasures Christ. Jesus becomes exceedingly dear to the one who has tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8). As the brokenhearted consider the great love they have been shown in Jesus, they prize him above all else and know him afresh as their great physician, their Savior, and their Redeemer. Bunyan conveyed this truth beautifully with these words: “As bread to the hungry, as water to the thirsty, as light to the blind, and liberty to the imprisoned; so, and a thousand times more, is Jesus Christ to the wounded, and to them that are broken-hearted.”9
The fourth reason a broken heart is precious in the eyes of the Lord is that it is a thankful heart, one that is grateful for the grace it has received.10 The human heart is not one-dimensional but multifaceted; it is capable of being many things at once. So the heart completely broken over sin can at the same time be totally thankful. And because of its sure position before God, a broken heart can even genuinely rejoice in the glorious reality of forgiven sin. With Bunyan’s helpful explanations in mind, let’s now look at how Tim Keller explained the beauty of the broken and contrite heart. He wrote,
What is the broken and contrite heart God wants so much? It is a heart that knows how little it deserves yet how much it has received. To know only the first truth is to be self-loathing, to know only the second is to be self-satisfied—and both kinds of hearts will be self-absorbed. David is talking instead about hearts broken by costly, free grace—knowing both how lost and how loved we are. This gets us out of ourselves.11
It is the costly, free grace of God and his great love for us that fuels our worship. God’s love is undeserved and pure. It is unearned and unwavering. Our love for him does not originate from within us, so there is no room for pride or boasting in our hearts. Rather, when we understand the extent of his grace and choose to receive it with our broken hearts, our love for God flows back to him in response. A broken heart leads to true worship.
Finally, let’s look at how Charles Spurgeon described the broken and contrite heart in one of his sermons. He stated,
A broken heart cannot keep secrets. Now is all revealed, now its essence goes forth. Far too much of our praying, and of our worship, is like closed up boxes; you cannot tell what is in them. But it is not so with broken hearts; when broken hearts sing, they do sing. When broken hearts groan, they do groan. Broken hearts never play at repenting, nor play at believing . . . with broken hearts, the hymn is a real hymn, the prayer is a real prayer, the hearing of sermons is earnest work, and the preaching of them is the hardest work of all. Oh, what a mercy it would be if some of you were broken all to pieces! There are many flowers that will never yield their perfume till they are bruised.12
The Mercy of Brokenhearted Worship
Perhaps you have drifted into a pattern of spiritual performance, or maybe you’ve been going through the motions of worship without a heart of worship lately. You can sing to the Lord at the top of your lungs, but if you do so without the right heart posture, your voice will not be pleasing to him. You can pray orthodox prayers that articulate the faith, but if your heart doesn’t fly to God on the wings of those words, you will have fallen short of true worship and communion. You may give sacrificially, but if you do so begrudgingly, your gift will not honor the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). I pray that if you have been playing at these sacred acts, as I have done at times in my life, that the Lord would do a deep work in your spirit.
I pray that you might experience true repenting and real believing. May the next hymn you sing be a real hymn. May the next prayer you pray be a real prayer. May the next Scripture you read wash over you as God’s grace to you. May the next sermon you listen to meet ears tuned to the Lord’s heart. Oh, what a mercy that would be—and may it truly be yours.
Notes:
- Alec Motyer, Psalms by the Day: A New Devotional Translation (Christian Focus, 2016), 138.
- Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (1973; repr., InterVarsity Press, 2008), 211.
- Tremper Longman III, Psalms, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (InterVarsity Press, 2014), 222.
- Harriett Auber, “Psalm 51,” in The Spirit of the Psalms, or A Compressed Version of Select Portions of the Psalms of David: Adapted to Christian Worship (London, 1829), 50.
- Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, vol. 2, 42–89, Kregel Exegetical Library (Kregel Academic, 2013), 198.
- John Bunyan, The Acceptable Sacrifice, in Experimental, Doctrinal, and Practical, vol. 1 of The Works of John Bunyan, ed. George Offor (Banner of Truth, 1991), 709.
- Bunyan, Acceptable Sacrifice, 709.
- Bunyan, Acceptable Sacrifice, 710.
- Bunyan, Acceptable Sacrifice, 711.
- Bunyan, Acceptable Sacrifice, 711.
- Timothy Keller, The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms (Viking, 2015), 111.
- C. H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (London, 1895), 41:304.
This article is adapted from Create in Me a Clean Heart: Experiencing God’s Abundant Mercy in Psalm 51 by Matthew Boswell.
