Is it possible to please God?

We are constantly doing things to make people like us.

A high school girl gets secret notes in her locker from that secret admirer.

A football player works hard at practice.

A new employee learns quickly, works late and gets the coffee.

A wife cooks her husband's favorite meal.

These are all good things to do, but so often our motivation is not to please the other person out of thankfulness, but to get something.

Unfortunately, we carry the same habit over into our relationship with God.

We say our prayers.

We confess our sins.

We are in church at least once a week.

We sing in the choir.

We pastor churches.

We drop a check into the offering.

We do good deeds.

Again, these are good things. But if we are doing them to make God like us more, so that He'll do what we want Him to do, we've got it all wrong.

If I do this, He'll answer my prayers.

If I do this, He'll let me into heaven.

All these activities are not what God desires.

"For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
You will not be pleased with a burnt offering." (Ps 51:16)

That seems like a rip-off, doesn't it? God commanded Israel to bring sacrifices and now we learn that those don't please Him.

What's up with that?

Read the next verse:

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Do you want to know what pleases God?

A broken spirit. Brokenness. Contrition.

The humble recognition of your sinfulness in the presence of a holy God.

The humble recognition of your impotence in the presence of an all-powerful God.

Not just an assent to these truths, but a recognition in every day life.

"Against You, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight," wrote David in verse 4 of this Psalm.

How often do we excuse our sins, rather than admitting our guilt before God?

A broken spirit does not do that. A person with a broken spirit confess his sins, which is an admission of guilt.

How often do we face the challenges of each day on our own and just come to God with the big problems?

A broken spirit does not do that. Instead he is calling out to God all day long for strength and wisdom for each task.

Want to please God?

Let your spirit be broken.