I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 16th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

If you listen carefully, you can hear the raindrops falling on my tin roof. Oh, what a beautiful sound! In winter, where we live, we hardly get any rain, hardly ever. It gets very cold, it gets very dusty and dry, but as I am sharing this message with you I am rejoicing. The Faithful One has sent us some rain! I want to speak to you about a broken and contrite heart this morning.

“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.”
Psalm 34:18

The Oxford Dictionary described the word “contrite” as someone who is sorry for what they have done. Have you messed up today? Have you made a mistake? Have you done something that you are not proud of? Well, just say sorry because the Lord is quick to save a crushed spirit. When we have been humbled and our pride has been crushed and our stubbornness has been broken, it is the broken heart which pleases the Lord. You know, it is only when you squeeze an orange that you can taste the sweet juice. It is only when a rose petal is crushed that we smell the sweet fragrance. 

“…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 
1 Peter 5:5

If we want to truly help other people and be honestly sympathetic towards them and to even feel their pain, then we must be prepared to be broken ourselves, otherwise, we don’t really understand, and we don’t feel what they are going through. You know, when I listen to a young up-and-coming preacher sharing his message with passion, and he gets deaf ears and no response from the congregation, it is extremely painful. One young man came and poured his heart out, weeping one day. He said, “I preached my heart out but I know I was too hard on the congregation, and I got no response,” but I think he saw in my eyes that I knew exactly what he was going through. Many years ago, I got up and I preached a message. Everything went wrong. It was in a hotel, and the food was very late in coming. The people had been drinking, and they were not interested in hearing about Jesus. I stood up on the floor, and I preached my heart out. I made an altar call and there was no response, just folded arms and people smiling at each other, not interested. 

I was broken, humiliated. I went to bed that night and said, “That is the last time, Lord.” I wrestled all night with the Holy Spirit, and the Lord said, “Are you going to do this for Me or for the people?” I said, “For You, Lord.” And the next day, I went out again, and I preached again and we had an absolutely wonderful response from the crowd.

If you want to be sympathetic, you have to be prepared to go through it yourself. Have a blessed day and go and comfort someone.

Goodbye.