Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

I had gone to Sunday school and church, I had read my bible and some recognized I had a good and proper understanding of the bible.

God did not speak to me until my heart was broken.

That is my experience. Is it yours? I am not saying it has to be, I don’t have the right to tell God how to reach you. Telling you how to hear God is playing God with your salvation and that isn’t right.

Jeremiah 3:23a Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains:

It isn’t what you can see that saves you.

Isaiah 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

It took me some time to recognize that salvation belongs to the Lord. It is His salvation. Yes it is free but how to attain unto that salvation is not up to me. He knows you best and if there is going to be any acceptance of this gracious salvation, He will lead you in ways that might not fit my experience.

There are however some that will have to come to terms with His salvation exactly the same way it happened for me. A broken spirit, not the kind that is of God but more like that of a wild stallion, a spirited animal that will allow no man to ride him. A broken and contrite heart, one that has failed to find pleasure in the emptiness of self-seeking, always hungry and never satisfied.

Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

He broke the old one before giving me a new one.

Psalm 51:1-3 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Over the years I have heard many a salvation prayer or if you will The Sinner’s Prayer. Pastors will tell you that there is no secret formula, no exact words that lead a repentant sinner to salvation. I didn’t even know what I was saying when I said mine.

Today, reading all of Psalm 51, I discover all the components which are solid scriptural advice which could be a solid foundation for salvation. I am not saying reading this psalm leads to salvation but if your heart is in tune with this psalm you cannot go wrong.

It opens with acknowledgement of condition. No one wants to be saved unless they are aware that they need to be saved. “My sins are ever before me.” Does that sound like a haunting, an inescapable fear?

Most of us were not raised up to love the Lord and come to a knowledge of a loving relationship without first sinning. There are some who do because they were raise up in the right family atmosphere. Praise God for that. I have loving granddaughters who have come to the Lord at tender ages. Praise God. I would however encourage them to come to a clear understand of the process that others will have to undergo. Psalm 51 should help them be better witnesses because it identifies issues which they themselves did not have to endure.

Is there any one line of verse which stands out and will help every sinner? Yes, perhaps, but most of the passages are also important and to pick out just one should not be used as an excuse to ignore the rest.